Overton County Agricultural Extension Agent Jason Garrett urges livestock owners to watch for heat stress in their animals this week.
He said owners should be sure to give their livestock plenty of shade, water and to watch the times they are working the animals. Owners should save work for livestock in the early morning and late afternoon. Garett said during the middle of the day, Garrett said, owners should look for plentiful shade for their livestock to rest.
“The heat stress and the heat low will activate quicker if the animal is dark-hided. That will really kick it off,” Garrett said. “You know, lighter-skinned animals, white, light-red, they don’t get affected as fast as black-headed cattle.”
Animals who are more likely to get excited, Garrett said, are also among those who may show the first signs of heat stress. Garrett said that owners should watch out for heat stress in livestock in temperatures over 85 degrees, especially in high humidity. During extreme heat, Garrett said, even healthy livestock can face difficulty caring out their body’s natural processes.
“A lot of beef producers have fall cabin seasons, so we’re here at August the 22nd, around September 1st, ‘lotta calves will be comin’,” Garrett said. “So we’re just hopin’ all this doesn’t last that long because you have a cow out there tryin’ to have a calf in this weather, it’s not, it’s not really good.”
Times of longstanding heat, Garrett said, can be especially harmful to livestock when coupled with drought. Cows already have a hard time gaining and maintaining weight during hotter weeks, Garrett said. Drought when continuing for a week or two, Garrett said, can mean less naturally growing gain for livestock to feed on.
This year’s heat and weather conditions, Garrett said, have not been that bad for livestock until this week. He said that the rain falling often, plentiful amounts of vegetation, and lack of continuously hot days have led him to see healthy livestock.
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