Heat stress blamed for thousands of cattle deaths in Kansas

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BELLE PLAINE, Kan. (AP) — Thousands of cattle in feedlots in southwestern Kansas have died of heat stress due to soaring temperatures, high humidity and little wind in recent days, industry officials said.

The final toll remains unclear, but as of Thursday at least 2,000 heat-related deaths had been reported to the Kansas Department of Health and Environment, the state agency that assists in disposing of carcasses. Agency spokesman Matt Lara said he expects that number to rise as more feedlots report losses from this week’s heat wave.

The cattle deaths have sparked unsubstantiated reports on social media and elsewhere that something besides the weather is at play, but Kansas agriculture officials said there’s no indication of any other cause.

“This was a true weather event — it was isolated to a specific region in southwestern Kansas," said A.J. Tarpoff, a cattle veterinarian with Kansas State University. “Yes, temperatures rose, but the more important reason why it was injurious was that we had a huge spike in humidity ... and at the same time wind speeds actually dropped substantially, which is rare for western Kansas.”

https://www.yahoo.com/news/heat-stress-blamed-thousands-cattle-210833435.html

But climate change is fake.

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1. I have seen numbers as high as 10,000 dead

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2. Adding a link

Heat Wave Kills Thousands Of Cattle In Kansas [VIDEO]
June 17, 2022

NPR reports:

Intense heat that baked Kansas over the weekend is being blamed for killing thousands of cattle — a toll documented in striking images on social media.

In widely seen video footage, rows of carcasses are shown lined up along the edge of a farm field. State officials are blaming a heat wave that sent temperatures higher than 100 degrees.

A spokesperson for the Kansas Department of Agriculture confirmed to NPR on Thursday that “several weather factors combined which led to heat stress for cattle that impacted cattle producers.”

Read the full article.

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4. Some background info - "Heat Stress In Beef Cattle" (short)

https://vetmed.iastate.edu/vdpam/about/production-animal-medicine/beef/bovine-disease-topics/heat-stress-beef-cattle

Heat Stress In Beef Cattle

Dr. Grant Dewell
ISU Beef Extension Veterinarian

August 2010

As temperatures heat up during the summer cattle producers need to assess the heat stress that their cattle are under. Typically pastured cattle are not as susceptible to heat stress as feedlot cattle. Pastured cattle have the ability to seek shade, water and air movement to cool themselves. In addition, radiant heat from dirt or concrete surface is increased for feedlot cattle. At temperatures above 80 degrees Fahrenheit cattle endure physiologic stress trying to deal with their heat load. Although cattle at this temperature are not at risk of dying they will have an increased maintenance requirement to cope with the heat. Feedlot operators should have a plan to manage heat to not only prevent death loss but also performance loss from decreased efficiency and feed intake.

Compared to other animals cattle cannot dissipate their heat load very effectively. Cattle do not sweat effectively and rely on respiration to cool themselves. A compounding factor on top of climatic conditions is the fermentation process within the rumen generates additional heat that cattle need to dissipate. Since cattle do not dissipate heat effectively they accumulate a heat load during the day and dissipate heat at night when it is cooler. During extreme weather conditions with insufficient environmental cooling at night cattle will accumulate heat that they cannot disperse. Therefore, a temperature-humidity index (THI) alone may not predict cattle heat stress because it does not account for accumulated heat load. Another short fall of THI is that it does not account for solar radiation and wind speed which can affect heat load of cattle.

Cattle should not be worked during times of extreme heat and only early in morning when it is hot. Working cattle will elevate their body temperature. Cattle should not wait in processing areas longer than 30 minutes when it is hot. Do not work cattle in the evening even if it has cooled off a little. Cattle’s core temperature peaks 2 hours after peak environmental temperature. It also takes at least 6 hours for cattle to dissipate their heat load. Therefore, if peak temperature occurred at 4:00 pm cattle will not have recovered from that heat load until after 12:00 am and it will be later than that before cattle have fully recovered from the entire days heat load. Feedlots should evaluate cattle daily, especially during July and August, for evidence of heat stress. Special attention should be paid to cattle with increased risk of heat stress including heavy cattle, black cattle and respiratory compromised animals.

Heavy cattle cannot handle heat stress compared to lighter weight cattle. Increased fat deposition prevents cattle from regulating their heat effectively. Solar radiation is a critical component that can lead to death loss from heat stress. Typically, proportionality more black hided cattle die during heat waves then other hide colors. Since cattle rely on respiration as a method to manage heat respiratory function is important. Cattle that had severe respiratory disease early in the feeding period will have decreased ability to regulate their heat load.

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