Severe hot weather forces farmers to look for ways to keep cattle cool
With a heatwave building across large parts of the country, farmers are deploying innovative measures to protect their livestock against the dangers of hot weather. Dairy cows are one of the most susceptible livestock species to heat stress, often feeling the effects of increased temperatures above 23 degrees Celsius.
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Brett Jessop milks 300 cows on his farm at Cobargo, where he has introduced a few modifications to reduce heat stress. Mr Jessop designed and built the shade sails himself for $30,000, with plans to improve cow comfort and reduce disease risk.
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PhD candidate at the University of Sydney Alice Shirley is exploring ways to optimise individual management of dairy cows under heat stress. "Milk production is that key factor, cows are eating less, they are drinking more, they have a lot of behavioural and physiological changes during a heatwave," she said.
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While plenty of work has focused on shade structures and heat stress in feedlots and dairies, University of Queensland animal science lecturer Angela Lees has moved her focus to the impact on the reproductive process of cattle. She has just begun a new research project to understand how heat stress impacts bull fertility, which will begin in early 2024.
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