By now you’ve noticed how hot it’s been outside this Summer, especially if you work outside at all. While it’s important for farmers to be conscious of how they handle heat stress, they also need to prevent heat stress in their cattle.
Stopping heat stress before it starts is critical to the farm in a lot of ways. For example, when a cow suffers from heat stress, they typically don’t produce as much milk, and their calves have lower birth weights. Both of these factors can cause the farm to hurt financially and that’s why experts say it’s important to see the signs before it’s too late.
A few things to look for in cattle are panting, faster respiratory rates, a decrease in milk production, and also if they aren’t eating as much as normal. These are the things you should be watching for every Summer because severe heat stress is really hard for cows to come back from.
Two key elements to prevent heat stress are making sure your cattle have plenty of water and shade. One other tip I thought was very interesting is to watch out for the sprinkler systems in barns. I say that because they’re put in place to cool down the cows, but they sometimes tend to have the opposite effect.
If the water droplets aren’t big enough, they end up creating a mist that makes it even more humid in the barn. This leads to the barn being hotter than normal and has a reverse impact on the cattle. Experts also suggest making sure there’s enough air flow in the barn, that can make a HUGE difference. If there’s enough air flow, you don’t even need the sprinkler system.
Overall, preventing heat stress in your animals is critical to the financials of the farm. You may not notice it right away, but in the end you’ll see a big difference.
