How cow showers and fans help farmers keep cattle cool

An important development from the financial markets: How cow showers and fans help farmers keep cattle coolImage caption, Cows at a dairy farm near Chippenham are doused with cool water to beat the heatByDave Harvey West of England business and environment correspondentPublished29 July 2026Dairy farmers are installing "cow showers" and giant cooling fans as hotter, drier summers become more common and an official drought has been declared. Extreme heat has cut milk production by up to 20% and farmers are spending thousands of pounds to keep their cattle cool and protect milk yields. Sarah Godwin's family have invested £15,000 in a ventilation and sprinkler system at their farm near Chippenham, Wiltshire, to help their animals cope with the "nearly continuous heatwave we are living through".

Professor Nicola Cannon from the Royal Agricultural University (RAU) in Cirencester says drought-hit grassland is also forcing many farmers to use winter feed earlier than planned. More from WiltshireFarmer loses thousands after huge fire in fields Published6 days agoThe cannabis-laced gummies with fake packaging Published6 days agoMurder accused called 'coward' and 'liar' in court Published6 days ago Figure caption, How cow showers and fans are keeping cattle coolOn a dairy farm near Swindon, Sam Woolford presses a switch on the wall of the milking parlour and 10 industrial-scale fans whirr into life. "It's like a wind tunnel in here," he says.

Economic Details

It blows my hair back, like I'm riding a motorbike at speed. The cows like it too, it seems, and crucially, they linger in the milking parlour, clearly cool and relaxed. The system helps keep cattle comfortable during hot weather, but farmers say it cannot eliminate all of the effects of prolonged heat.

"Milk production is down by 20%," Prof Cannon says. She explains that "cows feel stressed just as humans feel stressed when it's really hot and, as a response to that, their milk productivity goes down. "So farmers are trying to help their cows, by putting in big fans, or sprinkler systems, to just try and cool animals down.

"No grass in the pastureExperts say prolonged dry weather is now becoming a regular challenge for dairy farms, leaving grass scorched, cattle heat-stressed and farmers relying on winter feed months earlier than planned. "What we used to think of as extreme weather, we increasingly consider as normal. " says Mike Kendon, a climate scientist at the Met Office.

Analyst Views

, externalIn Somerset, farmers have described this as the worst drought in 50 years, leaving crops struggling. "Look at this stemmy nonsense," says Woolford, holding a bunch of thin grass towards me. "There's no leaf to it, they don't get any nutritional quality from this rubbish.

"His family have farmed dairy cows just outside Swindon for five generations. They have seen hot summers and wet ones, but now Woolford, aged 20, and his dad and grandad have noticed a permanent change in the weather. "We're praying it's not going to become the new norm," he says.

"But it looks like it will recur.

Financial markets are tracking the development closely as investors assess the likely impact.