It’s that time of the year again, and experiencing the hot weather is normal. Hot weather can negatively impact your livestock, so let’s look at how to keep livestock safe.
How can you manage heat stress in livestock without affecting their production? Heat stress can harm your farm animals if care is not taken.
What is heat stress in animals?
When livestock experience heat stress (HS), their body temperatures rise, and they cannot sufficiently expel heat to maintain thermal equilibrium. This is because the ambient temperature is above TNZ, there is a high humidity level, and there is slow air movement.
How to Keep Livestock Safe in Hot Weather
1. Access to sufficient and cool water
It is necessary to make sure animals always have access to clean, potable water because it is essential for controlling their internal body temperatures. Cool water is much preferable when available because it helps to reduce heat stress. Furthermore, it is crucial to ensure sufficient trough space available, allowing several animals to drink at once.
2. Provide shades
Providing shade for animals is incredibly successful at lowering heat loads, especially in cattle, where studies have shown up to 30% reductions. One practical way to do this is to provide shelter in barns during the hotter parts of the day while allowing grazing animals to graze during cooler hours, such as the mornings and nights.
3. Reduce working animals’ duration
Working with animals in the morning or evening when the weather is cooler is wise. However, if circumstances call for working animals in the heat of the day, it is a must to restrict the amount of time they are required to work to lessen their exposure to harsh conditions. Sprinklers and fans can maintain a comfortable and cool atmosphere for animals when they are gathered together in communal spaces, such as holding pens.
4. Fly load reduction
To avoid cattle excessively bunching together to ward off flies, efforts should be taken to lessen fly burdens on animals. The influence of flies on the well-being of the animals can be reduced by using fly deterrents, encouraging air movement, and doing routine cleaning in crowded areas.
5. Feed more
As feed tends to degrade more quickly in higher temperatures during this time of year, feeding animals more regularly becomes essential. Regularly providing fresh feed minimizes spoilage and waste, especially when using fermented feeds, and increases overall intake, ensuring the animals get the nutrition they need for optimum health.
Conclusion
These are some basics of how to keep livestock safe in hot weather.
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