Watch For Signs Of Heat Stress In Livestock

BY RHIANNON BRANCH/

FARM WEEK

With plenty of summer left to go, livestock producers are reminded to monitor animals and implement management practices to reduce the risk of heat stress.

“We’ve had a couple spells of some high heat and high humidity, and it doesn’t take very many of those days to cause some stress on the livestock,” Dan Shike, interim head of the Department of Animal Sciences at the University of Illinois, told FarmWeek.

Heat stress is more common during periods of high nighttime temperatures.

“When we’re not getting the nighttime cooling, that’s when those animals really start...