Birds, Trees & Mud Baths Offer Summer Comfort
To tame season’s torments, organic Ayrshire Farm turns to natural solutions
Ancient White Park and Scottish Highland cattle find relief from the summer sun in a forested pasture at Ayrshire Farm.
This is the fourth installment in the WholeHarvest Year series, which aims to chronicle the farming cycle at Ayrshire Farm.
It’s a boiling day in July at Ayrshire Farm. The temperature is already tickling 90 degrees on this late morning, and it’s only going to get hotter from here.
Mike Estienne, the farm’s large livestock manager, is navigating his white pickup down a hill toward a forested corner of the property. There, under a canopy of trees, stands a cluster of cattle shielded from the summer sun. Scottish Highlands, mostly, and a few Ancient White Parks.
These heritage breeds hail from Great Britain, uniquely adapted to withstand cold temperatures and months of rain. The Highlands are especially equipped for chilly weather, outfitted with a double-coat of thick, shaggy hair to insulate them from the wild winds of Scotland.
Virginia in summer? It’s not exactly their ideal climate.
This reality poses a bit of a puzzle for Estienne. It’s up to him and a crew of farmhands to make sure the cattle don’t just endure the season but thrive once the weather breaks. To this end, he pulls out every trick in his organic-farming book – because he’s not just caring for a unique type of livestock, he’s doing so under the guidelines of the USDA Organic program.
Estienne brings his truck to a stop. He only has to wait a second before spotting what he’s come to see – birds. They’re perched atop the cattle, standing on their backs and necks or with their toes wrapped around long, sweeping horns.
What might look bothersome to the human observer is actually a symbiotic relationship, deliberately orchestrated with the goal of combating one of summer’s worst enemies: Flies.
“The things I worry about most in summer are flies, shade, and water,” says Estienne.
Controlling the weather is out of everyone’s hands, so contending with it is the next best thing. By providing natural pest control, protection from the sun, and sufficient hydration sources, Ayrshire Farm aims to make this sticky season a bit more bearable for its valued residents while promoting a healthier and more resilient farming ecosystem.
Ayrshire Farm has been attracting birds to its pastures to help control flies on cattle. Look closely, and you’ll see two birds perched on this cow.
Controlling Flies the Natural Way
As anyone who’s been on a farm in summer knows, flies can make a miserable day even more miserable. That goes double for animals.
Some species of flies feed on blood from cattle, others feed on normal secretions from the eyes and nose, and some lay eggs on cattle that develop into grubs under their skin. Cows can get very stressed under these conditions. They’ll become restless and spend more time swatting flies than eating grass. Weight gain stalls and milk production suffers.
While conventional farms can employ a host of chemicals and pesticides to battle pests, Ayrshire Farm relies on natural means.
To tackle the fly problem, Estienne uses a multi-tiered approach rooted in organic standards.
First are fly traps – the kind you can find at your local feed or garden store. Simple, effective and fairly inexpensive, they’re hung in trees when the cattle are rotated to a new pasture every two to three days.
Next are fly parasites: beneficial insects that attack fly pupa and prevent them from hatching. They arrive in packets that look like bags of rice, which are then scattered around pastures where they can burrow into cocoons and kill the flies inside. These tiny warriors are said to reduce fly populations by up to 85%, according to the company that sells them.
Perhaps most popular with the cattle are fly rubs – known at Ayrshire as “chorizos” for their sausage-like resemblance. They’re soaked with a natural fly repellent and hung around waterers and mineral feeders so cattle have to pass beneath them, applying a coating of the repellent across their backs and heads.
And then, there’s the birds. Last year, Ayrshire Farm installed 40 nesting boxes throughout the farm, hoping to attract more birds to the property. It didn’t take long for the locals to move in, bringing with them a voracious appetite.
“When there’s a cow with a bird on its horns, you’ll see they don’t have flies on their face,” Estienne says.
On any given day, Ayrshire’s cattle find welcome companions in gray catbirds, flycatchers, tree swallows (which can eat 2,000 insects per day) and starlings. Starlings are usually a dreaded site on cattle farms, where they’re known to pillage feed supplies. But since Ayrshire’s cattle eat mainly grass and forages, starlings and their enthusiasm for flies get a pass.
On their own, neither the traps, killer bugs, repellents or even the birds are a silver bullet. But, combined, they do make a difference. And every bit helps.
“We do every little thing we can to manage files, while conventional farms use fly tags and insecticides,” says Estienne. “They can put chemicals on their fly rubs that will kill flies rather than just deter them. They still have problems with flies, but there’s a lot more they can do, and it’s easier.”
As an organic farm, Ayrshire doesn’t use chemicals on its land or animals, in compliance with federal standards. Is this way of farming more challenging? Sure. But it’s a good challenge. One that forces the farm to think holistically – to look to nature for solutions rather than a bottle of toxins.
“We’re approaching it from a more mechanical standpoint – trapping flies and removing them or having birds eat them,” Estienne says. “Conventional farms just use chemicals.”
A group of young cattle, including Scottish Highlands, take a break from the sun beneath a cluster of trees. Studies have shown that shade can reduce cattle’s body temperatures by up to 1.4°F during hot weather.
Seeking Shade
On another part of farm, Estienne pulls up to a pasture where a group of Ancient White Park cattle are grazing contentedly in the sun. With their bright-white hides, they can withstand the hot temperatures far better than the Highlands, which are clustered together under trees along the perimeter of the pasture.
“White Parks do well in the sun,” says Estienne. “You’ll see them out grazing, while the Highlands will be sitting in the shade.”
Providing shade is an essential strategy for beating heat stress in cattle. Studies show that cows with access to shade have lower respiration rates and body temperatures, better weight gain, and improved appetites. Shade can reduce heat loads on cattle by up to 30 percent, and can also help keep their body temperatures constant during hot summers. In one study, Kentucky researchers found that shade reduced beef cattle’s deep body temperatures by up to 1.4°F during heat stress periods, and also improved their daily weight gains by up to 1.25 lbs.
While portable “Shade Haven” structures are used on Ayrshire Farm, cattle generally prefer natural shade. The farm’s 800 acres have a wide variety of pastures on which cattle can graze. Some are more open or densely forested than others, but virtually all have trees.
Trees are the easiest and most efficient shade-producers. When temperatures are at their highest, Estienne makes sure to move cattle to more densely forested plots, where evenly distributed shade helps cattle avoid congregating and over-using one site.
Shade is also essential for pigs. Ayrshire Farm is home to 50 Gloucestershire Old Spot hogs – a British heritage breed renowned for its excellent foraging and grazing habits. They thrive best in forested pastures, not just because rooting opportunities abound, but because trees also provide protection from sunburn, which is why Ayrshire’s pigs live year-round in shady, wooded areas.
All the farm’s pigs also have access to their own huts for an added layer of shade. The huts are a comfy place to nap during the hottest part of the day, with ventilation panels that open during summer to allow airflow.
Conrad, one of Ayrshire Farm's Gloucestershire Old Spot hogs, enjoys wallowing on a hot summer day. These mud baths not only help pigs cool their body temperatures by up to 3.6°F, but also provide natural sunscreen.
Water Matters
With shade addressed, it’s on to the next and most important defense against summer heat: water.
As with all animals, water is vital for cattle in the summer to cool down and replenish water lost through sweating, respiration, and urination. In fact, cattle will increase their water consumption by almost 30% when temperatures rise from 64 to 86°F. Water also helps transfer heat from the body into the environment through panting and sweating.
The old rule of thumb is that cattle should drink one to two gallons of water per 100 pounds of body weight. When temperatures are above 40°F, water intake should increase by one gallon for every 10°F increase in temperature.
Multiply that by Ayrshire’s 460 cattle and it adds up to a lot of H2O.
The farm uses troughs and irrigation systems throughout the property to make sure water can reach cattle wherever they are.
Pigs also depend heavily on water – not only to stay hydrated but to lower their body temperatures. Because pigs lack functional sweat glands or the ability to pant, they can’t cool themselves, which can quickly lead to heat stress and problems such as reduced growth rates.
So, what’s a pig to do? Just like humans, they’ll take a dip in the pool.
Mud holes or “wallows” are a pig’s best friend in summer. There’s nothing fancy about preparing one: Just dig a shallow pit, fill it with water, and watch the magic happen.
Wallowing can lower a pig’s body temperature by up to 3.6°F and, unlike water, mud takes longer to evaporate, providing extended heat relief while also serving as a natural sunscreen and insect repellent.
The Ayrshire Farm crew comes around twice a day in the summer to give pigs fresh drinking water and replenish their mud baths as needed. With about two to four pigs per pasture depending on their age, there’s plenty of water and room to wallow. Talk about happy pigs.
Even in the sweltering heat of summer, Ayrshire Farm’s commitment to organic, sustainable farming practices shines through. By implementing natural pest-control methods, ensuring ample shade, and providing constant access to water, the farm aims to navigate these increasingly dryer and hotter seasons – proving that with creativity and care, it’s possible to harmonize with nature and maintain high standards of animal welfare.