Cattle ranchers should be on the lookout for heat stress

With the rise in heat and humidity, cattle producers should be watching for signs of heat stress in cattle, Brownfield Ag News reported.

“Cattle are pretty acclimated so some of them may do just fine without too much, so, the first step is to just pay attention to what your cattle are doing,” Grant Dewell, Iowa State Extension veterinarian said.

A combination of high heat and high humidity can be stifling for cattle. Producers should watch for panting and drooling, as these are symptoms of heat stress.

“If it’s cooling off at night, they’ll be okay. But, if we get two or three days of it not cooling off at night then we can have some heat death loss.” Dewell said.