Cooler or no cooler?

[ChristaCheatham]

Hey everyone! I just wanted to post a question about using or not using a cooler?? Some say this is the only way to grow hair in this Indiana 90 degree summer heat! But should I really install a cooler? How does this process work? Or should I go towards getting another fan with a mister and seeing how it turns out? I will still wash 2-3 times a day but will he grow a lot more hair with the cooler? I'm getting a shorthorn steer so hopefully this will help in the hair growing! Please give me any comments on installing a cooler or the do's and don't of using a cooler! Or maybe the cons and pros towards a cooler to fans! Any comments help!! Thanks!

 

[cpratz]

I just got a cooler this year for steers it is awesome. He has more hair than I know what to do with he is out of an angus cow. The only bad thing about it is waking up so early at about 5:00 and letting out about 9:30. But it pays off. If you get one build it yourself and buy refrigeration system from cool calf. Fans won't do as much.

 

[ChristaCheatham]

Ok wow! That's awesome! Ya I know the boy who won grand at our fair and he had a cooler! His steer looked like a teddy bear! So how do you build one yourself? I have a horse stall with a window? Could you close that off and put insulation in it or what??

 

[cpratz]

We have ours with 4 inch spray foam 10x10 room perfect for 2 big steers or 3 small. You will want the ceilings pretty high. We put tin around the outside. Make sure you have at electric magnet on the door. It's not just the cold that grows hair it is also the darkness so has to be pitch black dark.

 

[farmboy]

Myth : cool rooms grow hair
Fact : they help
Fact : there's a million and one threads on coolers. Do a search and do some quality reading.

 

[Mainevent]

Have to agree with Zak. I had a Maine Anjou heifer and she had a lot of hair all  without a cooler. They help but don't grow, all we have are fans and swamp coolers.

 

[blackdirt cowboy]

A cooler doesn't help grow hair because it keeps the temperature lower. A cooler helps to grow hair because you completely control the amount of light an animal is exposed to. When an animal is exposed to less light it triggers a response in the brain to grow hair because they think it is winter, due to the "shorter days." The same thing can be accomplished by keeping your barn as dark as possible and keeping the calf cool in front of fans or a port a cool. These two calves never saw a cooler a day in their lives. They were in front of a port a cool for about 120 days.

 

[Tallcool1]

Lots of good threads on this subject. 

This is my take, and you can agree or not.  Either way is fine with me.

A cooler alone doesn't grow hair, as someone said earlier in this thread.  I agree with that.

Anyone with even a little bit of effort can put good hair on a good haired calf.  Some of these cattle won't lose their hair even if they lay in a pen under a shade tree all summer long.  Some of these females will have to be sheared every spring for the rest of their lives or they will die in the pasture.  Let's not focus on those type of cattle in this thread.  They are not the normal or typical cattle.

What a cooler will do for you is enable you to put good hair on a bad haired one.  You know the type, had pretty decent hair in January, but when they shed they went 100% slick including their tail head and the top of their neck.  You can get these kind hairy again if you have a cooler.  You can also do this without rinsing 3 times a day.  You can get them hairy rinsing once a day, and blowing them out and keeping them clean the rest of the time.

A cooler won't do all the work for you, but it will darn sure make your job easier.  And when you put one of those really good haired steers in there......look out!  It just all depends upon how competitive you want to be.

 

[obie105]

Personally I would only do a cooler on market animals not breeding stock. I can't say I dont like coolers because they have there place but Im not a fan. We insulated our barn, hung several fans and a couple of misters and have done very well with it. When we were really hauling the cattle go inside before 6 and not out til 9 or 10. It was dark in the barn also. It also comes down to budget and what you want to do. I have also had some friends do really well with porta cools. Hair is something you have to work on and everyday.

 

[vc]

My opinion on a cooler, If you have the resources to build and run one, cost is not a factor then yes they are a great tool for hair. We did not have one and did not get the hair our friends did with one. The kids with the cooler put in just as much time rinsing blowing and grooming (twice a day during school year, and 3 times oncethe school year ended) Our fair is in July, our calves went in the barn the last week end of March, same as the calves that went into the cooler. They had 4 inch yak hair we had 1 1/2 -2 inch decent hair.
It is not a short cut to avoid work, they rinsed, chilled (pumped water out of a box freezer that was just above freezing) and blew the cattle out, they did all this in the cool room, so it actually took longer to get them blown out, they had a wash rack in the cool room.
Cooler or not the more work you put in the better the hair, A solid routine that is followed daily is key, everyone does it different but it is going to take time everyday to really acheave good hair.

It may not be exact but basically what my sons did for hair
April- June (add a mid day rinse once school year ends)
5:00 Halter, rinse (after first week calves were at the gate ready to come in)
5:15 Comb hair up and put behind fans go eat breakfast
5:45 Blow out completely, add product, feed
6:30 Go get ready for school
7:00 Pull feed pans muck stall
7:30 Go to school
15:30 Tie head up, muck stall, rice root brush, blow.
16:30 Rinse
16:45 Blow out
17:30 Feed
18:00 Pull pans, muck stall, blow and apply product to hair.
18:30 Eat dinner work on home work
19:45 Rice root brush and blow, fill hay feeder, work on setting up, kick out
20:15 Muck stall, fluff bedding, wet bedding down
20:30 Call it a day

The order may have changed some days and depending on the heat and sun they got kicked out later sometimes

 

[obie105]

My opinion on a cooler, If you have the resources to build and run one, cost is not a factor then yes they are a great tool for hair. We did not have one and did not get the hair our friends did with one. The kids with the cooler put in just as much time rinsing blowing and grooming (twice a day during school year, and 3 times oncethe school year ended) Our fair is in July, our calves went in the barn the last week end of March, same as the calves that went into the cooler. They had 4 inch yak hair we had 1 1/2 -2 inch decent hair.
It is not a short cut to avoid work, they rinsed, chilled (pumped water out of a box freezer that was just above freezing) and blew the cattle out, they did all this in the cool room, so it actually took longer to get them blown out, they had a wash rack in the cool room.
Cooler or not the more work you put in the better the hair, A solid routine that is followed daily is key, everyone does it different but it is going to take time everyday to really acheave good hair.

If you are going to build one dont put the wash rack inside the cooler. I had a very good friend lose 2 heifers one summer because the dampness of the washrack bred somekind of crazy pneuomia like bug that they had a very hard time getting under control. The states vet office was involved and everything. It is the big reason why I am not all about them.

 

[paj315]

We live in central Indiana . We wash once a week and rinse the other 6 days and we have hair just like the calves in coolers do. We raise herefords and the key is to keep them clean keep them under fans and work the hair . Every day for several hours a day. We had 5 head this summer and spend about 4 hours a day working hair . If you have the extra money to spend on a cooler then by all means build one . Just understand that you still have to work hair everyday maybe even more with a cooler.

 

[sizzler14]

3 words
Genetics
No Daylight