Are Herefords heat tolerant?

[BoJack Cattle]

I don't know much about Hereford cattle, was wondering how heat tolerant they are? Can they handle the heat like Brahman influenced cattle can?

 

[ALACOWMAN]

nope.. brahman is a whole different animal.. they have fully functional sweat glands ..hereford handle the heat pretty decent compared to other bos taurus breeds. but the two crossed together make a great combination for heat and mothering ablility

 

[Santas and Duhram Reds]

more heat tolerant than anything black. Compared to a brahman...not so much

 

[greenwillowhereford II]

Even within the breed, there are those who believe that the lighter colored, more "yellow" haired cattle are more heat tolerant. I haven't noticed a difference, but it's not the deep south here either.

 

[I luv herfrds]

Ours held up pretty well during the heat wave we had this summer. Hit 104 and 106 in July.
Too hot for everything.

 

[KNERSIE]

Yes, they handle the heat well, but they are not bos indicus cattle like brahman and can't really be compared to them.

Certain lines certainly do better than others, haircoat quality being the major roleplayer here. In the summer heat you want the coat to be soft slick and shiny for heat tolerance. Coat colour might play a role too, but its second to the hairquality. You'll always see the cattle with the courser coats (you can feel this between your fingers) panting first.

Our summers can reach temps as high as 115F, so I can safely say herefords can handle the heat if you use the right type of animal for your environment.

 

[KMacGinley]

As opposed to black cattle yes, as long as they have pigment.

 

[dun]

There's a difference between heat (temperature) tolerance and sun tolerance. I have yet to see any difference based on color to temperature tolerance, but we have shade in all of the paddocks. Sun tolerance in theory black would be less tolerant.
Temperature tolerance is more of an individual characteristic. We only have a cople of black bodied animals and they don;t seem to suffer any worse then the reds when in the shade. Had a couple of reds that would be suffering at 80 degrees even in the shade while all of the others were out eating in the sun.

 

[BoJack Cattle]

As opposed to black cattle yes, as long as they have pigment.

Why is pigment important as it relates to cattle? Does the presence of pigment prevent cancer eye?

 

[dun]

As opposed to black cattle yes, as long as they have pigment.

Why is pigment important as it relates to cattle? Does the presence of pigment prevent cancer eye?

In theory pigment on the udder or nuts prevents sunburn, or at least decreases it. I wonder if it doesn;t just make it less obvious.

 

[KMacGinley]

Last summer, I had 30 shorthorn Cow-calf pairs from a good friend on one of my pastures, they were out grazing most of the day, they even rested in the open, which puzzled me, since they had a nice shady 10 acre pine grove they could have laid in. My angus cows were usually standing in a pond when available or in the woods under the trees, during the hot part of the day.

As far as the pigment question goes, I don't think there is any doubt that pigmented eyes help prevent cancer eye and pigmented udders burn much less easily than non-pigmented ones. In the past I have had both pigmented and unpigmented herefords and have seen the results.

 

[I luv herfrds]

Talked to our vet about the pigment and cancer eye. He said it does help prevent some cancer, but there is some that is passed on to offspring.
Since we have been keeping the heifer calves with the pigment around both eyes we have noticed that the cancer that appears just on the outside of the eye has disapperared. Had one cow with pigment on one eye and none on the other get cancer eye in the eye w/o the pigment.
The cow we have now that has cancer eye has no pigment around her eyes at all.

There was a post about cancer eye earlier on this site. Lot of information.

 

[MikeC]

As opposed to black cattle yes, as long as they have pigment.

Why is pigment important as it relates to cattle? Does the presence of pigment prevent cancer eye?

In theory pigment on the udder or nuts prevents sunburn, or at least decreases it. I wonder if it doesn;t just make it less obvious.

Black people don't sunburn as easily as fair skinned whites by a long shot.

Difference between "Sun" tolerance and "Heat" tolerance? Are you talking humidity and the cooling effect of sweat evaporation?

 

[Beefy]

no.