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By Alice McFarlane

Heat Stress in cattle

Protecting livestock from heat starts with water

Jun 7, 2023 | 5:09 PM

The hot weather can pose a challenge when it comes to keeping livestock safe and comfortable.

Saskatchewan Cattlemen’s Association CEO Grant McLellan said making sure livestock have a good supply of clean water is the key.

“When it comes to cattle, the simplest thing is, hopefully, we get cooler weather but it’s water, water, water. It’s the most important thing,” McLellan said.

At the end of the day, this is a weather-dependent industry. McLellan said sometimes that means things don’t work in your favour, so producers try to be as creative as possible.

“Farmers and ranchers are a resilient, creative bunch. That might mean you’re moving animals from one spot to another, you might change their grazing patterns or grazing locations based on a number of factors,” he said. “You’re in the same boat as the rest of us, which is you pray and hope that you get some rain and cooler weather in short order, otherwise, cattle losses are a real risk.”

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Part of the issue is cattle are better suited for the cold, according to McLellan.

“Cattle are built for winter. They’re built for minus 30, not plus 30. You’ll see them congregate around the trees and things like that for shade. You definitely want to get them access to shade. But, by and large, the thing we really hope for is some rain and access to good clean water,” McLellan said.

The Farm and Ranch Water Infrastructure Program can provide some help to producers. McLellan said it’s worth looking into.

“There’s funding from the provincial and federal governments that provides help with costs for well digging, including power sources for pumps and things of that nature,” he said. “It also can incorporate new dugouts as well. It’s basically any type of farm water project that you can think of including pipelines and things like that, too.”

These projects are expensive. McLellan said when producers are in a situation where it’s very hot it’s important to move quickly.

“Prices seem to go up when there’s a bunch of the projects happening at the same time. It’s a good program but we know that people are going to be moving quickly to get water to their animals,” he said.

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alice.mcfarlane@pattisonmedia.com

On Twitter: @farmnewsNOW