Hoop barns keep cattle comfy despite the heat

Piece Description

Crops are not the only things wilting in the sweltering summer of 2012; the largest animals on the farm are also under stress. Some cattle producers are better equipped than others to keep their livestock cool. One option is hoop barns, which are gaining acceptance across the Midwest. Rick Fredericksen reports for Harvest Public Media from Iowa, where the versatile structures are becoming commonplace.

Runs 3:59

Ends: soc

(Tanner Rowe and sound of sprinkler)
“Right now it’s about 98 degrees and very little wind.”

(Rick)
It’s the early July heat wave, and Tanner Rowe stands beside his last open feed lot near Dallas Center, keeping a close eye on his cattle. Some are breathing out of their mouths; a sprinkler provides the only relief from the blazing sun.

(Rowe)
“On a day like this their body temperature can be 20 degrees warmer than the outside temperature there is, and that’s pretty tough on a 13-hundred pound animal.”

(Rick)
Most of Rowe’s heard is in the shade—under two large hoop barns that he had built a couple years ago.
Air circulates under a fabric roof, stretched over strong metal arches, or hoops; the animals are sheltered from rain and snow, in addition to the sun.

(Rowe)
“They definitely help with the creature comforts. The cattle are much more comfortable, they gain better + I’d have them all inside today but I just don’t have the room in the buildings to do it.”

(Rick)
Originally, hoop buildings were used for pigs in Canada. More and more, cattle are living under a roof; either a hoop barn, or other covered structures that protect the animals and the environment. Iowa is a leader in livestock housing research. A study found that nearly 700 hoop barns were used for cattle in Iowa last year, according to Mark Honeyman at Iowa State University.

(Honeyman)
“I see hoop barns all over Iowa + We are in effect feeding cattle under a big tent + By feeding cattle in a hoop barn or other covered ways, the potential for runoff into Iowa’s streams, ponds and lakes is greatly reduced.”

(Rick)
Iowa State has had good results with hoop barns on its demonstration farms, although the fabric roof eventually has to be replaced and two of them burned up in a fire this month. A typical hoop barn for feeding cattle could cost around $200,000.

(Brent Bryant)
“These are our barns, we number them 1,2,3,4,5,6, so it’s easy to keep track of where you’re at.”

(Rick)
Near Washta, Iowa Brent Bryant and his father keep 2,000 head under six hoop barns on their research farm. For eight years they’ve also sold hoop barns through their company, Hoop Beef System.

(Brent Bryant)
“As of July 1, we’ve already sold more hoop barns to customers across the Midwest than we did all of last year, full sale year + It’s definitely a concept that’s popular, demand for it is growing.”

(Rick)
On this day, there’s a heat advisory in Washta, a town famous for the coldest temperature in Iowa. Now 144 degrees hotter than that record low, hoop barns are keeping the cattle in the shade, and ventilated, just as they were designed.

(Brent Bryant)
“Well here we don’t really see much of an impact on the cattle, they’re continuing to what we call their intake or how much feed we feed them has not we have not changed that due to the heat + we don’t run any sprinklers, don’t run any fans in, our cattle have stayed comfortable and that’s something we’re really thankful for.”

(Rick)
Heat stress reduces profitability; last summer it killed up to 4,000 cattle across Iowa. Others lost weight; going to market lighter, or requiring farmers to bulk them up. Bob Bryant, co-owner of Hoop Beef System, contends that hoop buildings enhance income and beef quality.

(Bob Bryant)
“The cattle have less stress when they are in the hoop barns, because of that we get a little higher yield on the cattle when they’re harvested and we get probably a 10% better grade on the meat because of the lack of stress on the cattle.”

(Rick)
With cattle increasingly spending most of their lives under roof, harsh weather extremes are diminished, and the elder Bryant is bullish on Midwest beef production. For producers who’ve switched to these covered feedlots, the problem now is not how high the temperature will get, but how high will the price of corn go. Near Washta, Iowa, I’m Rick Fredericksen for Harvest Public Media.