Mitigating heat

Mitigating heat. A lot of us are aware of the fact that thousands of cattle died in Kansas in recent days because of sweltering heat and humidity. I asked Kansas veterinarian Dr. Tony Hawkins what steps can be taken to mitigate this situation. Speaker2: Cattle they're not that efficient at cooling, you know, they're not designed to be very efficient at cooling like we are. They don't sweat. They release heat through panting, but they can be very resilient if they are properly acclimated to the heat. So he stresses caused by a lot of factors and it was just kind of the perfect storm of this situation. Speaker1: Let's be proactive. What steps can a cattle producer take to mitigate heat and humidity? Stress? Speaker2: There are some things that you can do to try to help mitigate that, providing some shade. So if out at pasture, if you've got some tree cover, if you don't, you could build some shade structures. If you're in an enclosed situation like a barn providing a lot of ventilation through an open barn or ventilation system or fans helps immensely for confined situations. Sprinklers and misters also work well only if there's proper ventilation, though, because they can increase the humidity level. And then obviously continuous access to fresh drinking water is very vital. Speaker1: So cattlemen in these hot situations be aware that there are things that you can do.