Agricultural News
Benefits of Managing Heat Stress in Cattle Outweigh Costs
Wed, 30 May 2012 17:31:52 CDT
Heat stress in cattle, especially in feedlots, is a danger in the summer. Terry Mader, extension beef specialist at the University of Nebraska says if stressful conditions aren't managed, it can lead to a loss in quality and a loss in profits.
When stressed, glycogen in the muscles has a tendency to produce dark cutters which can result in a 20 to 40 percent discount. Mader said there are ways to avoid dark cutters.
"Basically, the way to minimize that is to keep the cattle calm. Don't get them stirred up. Don't get them excited."
He said another main strategy to combat heat stress in the feed yard is to change up the routine.
"The other thing we can do is change the time we feed cattle, particularly feedlot cattle. Feed more of the ration at night or in the evening feeding as opposed to the morning feeding. What we try to do is to minimize or diminish the opportunity for high metabolic heat load at the same time you have a high climatic heat load."
Mader said methods of direct relief can also be employed.
"Just wetting the pen surface down, that cools those pen surfaces. Those pen surfaces can get up to a 140 or 150 degrees. For more aggressive mitigation strategies you might have to put up shade."
Intervention benefits generally outweigh the costs. Mader says there's more reason to properly care for animals in hot weather other than just performance.
"We're in a situation now or an economic scenario where we've got pretty expensive animals out there and we need to make sure they're properly cared for not just from the performance standpoint, but also because of what the consumer wants. She wants to make sure that animal is cared for properly. That's our responsibility. We want to make sure we not only feed and water it, but we also protect it from the environment with shade or sprinklers or things like that."
WebReadyTM Powered by WireReady® NSI
Top Agricultural News
More Headlines...
