Black hided cattle struggling with this heat

[Nesikep]

Brangus are heat tolerant,with the looser hide ,and ability to sweat more..though I don't think the could handle standing out in the open with a blow torch bearing down on them..

Gelbvieh also have more "neck leather" which often puts them at disadvantages for showing.. which is just one reason I don't put a whole lot of faith in "show cattle"

It is not only black hided cattle although they are more susceptible to heat stress, but British and European breeds as a whole, which struggle with heat stress. Some breeds cope better than others - Murray Grey, Sussex and some Shorthorn strains for example, but the long term solution is to develop suitable composites to bring in heat adapted traits, while not compromising on performance or beef quality - https://sangacattle.webs.com/apps/f...need-for-african-breed-composites-in-the-usa-

I had a couple mostly white shorthorns and one in particular was especially heat sensitive, she'd be huffing and puffing long before the others!

The whole CA program has been about selling bulls from the beginning... and no care for the consequences. Now we have black Herefords for Christ sake because black hides mean higher prices... although red hide cattle are routinely skinned and labeled "certified BA" as they are packaged. And the lack of genetic diversity infecting the entire industry as people "acquire" black genetics in traditionally not black cattle is biting producers with birth defects and inbreeding. Artificial insemination means black bulls are produced right along with black replacement heifers. I'm surprised we haven't seen black Charolais yet.
Genetic diversity is important.

I agree, and I think with the increased use of AI and bulls with 100K offspring, this is something that could come and bite us in the arse down the road. We need good, linebred purebred cattle to make efficient, crossbred commercial herds with... If every purebred is going to get mixed and matched with other breeds I think the heterosis is going to decline.. Just my thoughts on it

 

[wbvs58]

And did the other colours survive?

Ken

 

[Aussie27]

I'm in Australia and it's very different to the heatwave in North America. We have had the coldest start to winter in decades! Record snow fall! We had most of the ski slopes open early. It's been much wetter then normal here.

Anyway back to Black hided cattle struggling with heat. I remember I had some Shorthorns and some Angus in a dry paddock in the middle of the day in Summer. The Angus were sitting down in the shade of a tree, the red roan Shorthorns were in dappled shade eating and the White Shorthorns were in full sun eating the best grass in a paddock.

I personally don't think we should be basing cattle in hot areas off a breed from Scotland. There are plenty of high quality beef breeds out there that are from warmer climates then Scotland.

 

[Ebenezer]

Whaaaaaat??? Please tell me where I can see something about that from an agricultural school source.

Meals Create Heat
The heat production of metabolic functions accounts for about 31% of the intake energy by a 1,322-lb cow producing 80 lb of 4% fat-corrected milk (Coppock, 1985), and energy expenditures for maintenance increase by 20% when the temperature is 95°F compared with a thermoneutral temperature (Table 1). Thus heat production is a high proportion of consumed energy and increases as production rises, but increasing amounts of energy are diverted to maintenance during hot weather. Following a meal, metabolic heat production increases. Different feedstuffs have varying heat increments, and in moderate- to high-producing dairy cows the heat increment of feeds can be about two-thirds of total heat production (Chandler, 1994). Dietary fat has a low heat increment and because of a high efficiency of utilization, heat production is lower. Fiber has a high heat increment when compared with concentrates (Baldwin et al., 1980).
https://dairy-cattle.extension.org/feeding-and-nutrition-management-for-hot-weather/

 

[Dusty Britches]

From BEEF: {LINK}

Kansas Livestock Association Vice President of Communications Scarlett Hagins says KLA cannot confirm or deny the video that's making the rounds. She says KLA does not know if it was shot in a feed yard in Kansas, or elsewhere, and the date of the footage.

They do however have confirmed reports from member feed yards of higher than normal death losses due to an extraordinary heat wave event in western Kansas over the weekend of June 10-12.
...
Comments on the viral video post point to the rows of dead cattle as suspicious. When, in actuality, it's typical procedure for a feed yard when disposing of dead stock.

There has to be an accounting for every head that leaves the yard, whether on a truck to the processing plant or on the truck to the rendering plant. This is a business.

Theurer says typically feed yards will go through and remove dead cattle from pens and place them in areas where they can be accessed by the rendering truck. Cattle may be sent to rendering plants or to landfills if permitted, or to compost sites—all of which are properly documented and determined in advance of any need.

In a large event like this, veterinarians will have to do necropsies to determine likely cause of death, Theurer says, for insurance and indemnity program documentation. Animal IDs will be recorded for the accounting department.

How many lost

There's been a lot of numbers thrown out around social media and in reports. Hagins says KLA doesn't track those numbers and members do not self-report their death losses. However, KLA will say it was a significant number of cattle lost.

 

[Aero]

 

[andybob]

Gelbvieh also have more "neck leather" which often puts them at disadvantages for showing.. which is just one reason I don't put a whole lot of faith in "show cattle"

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I had a couple mostly white shorthorns and one in particular was especially heat sensitive, she'd be huffing and puffing long before the others!
This is why I qualified my statement on the Shorthorn, as there are many strains with differing attributes, the British Whitebred Shorthorns are not going to be heat tolerant, while the Australian Weebollabolla are. We had some good slick haired beef Shorthorn herds in Africa which were/are more heat tolerant than other British breeds in the same environment.

 

[WFfarm]

We bought a couple British White/ Angus cross cows. They were bred to a registered black Simmental bull. We got two BW looking calves and one all black. We can keep breeding to get purebred Simmental that are all white with black ears and noses and market them as Climate Change immune cattle, LOL.

 

[wbvs58]

From what I have seen your winters are pretty long and tough. Do your slick coated breeds handle the snow and ice as well as the British breeds and European? I know it would vary with latitude but how many months of each of the extremes do you get? I have all Black Angus and am very happy with them in my temperate climate of around 1000m altitude (over 3000'). We can get some hot days in summer and I never see them distressed. At the moment in the middle of winter by 10 am I cant find my cows in my scrub block, they are all lying down happily ruminating, this is what cows do. If I want to find them I have to go in mid afternoon when they are all up and grazing. If I was further north in the tropics I would want to add a bit of ear for tick resistance also or colour if ticks were not an issue, Charolais appeal to me.

Ken

 

[Richnm]

Still hanging on to that black paint!

Black paint pays.

 

[Aero]

From what I have seen your winters are pretty long and tough. Do your slick coated breeds handle the snow and ice as well as the British breeds and European? I know it would vary with latitude but how many months of each of the extremes do you get? I have all Black Angus and am very happy with them in my temperate climate of around 1000m altitude (over 3000'). We can get some hot days in summer and I never see them distressed. At the moment in the middle of winter by 10 am I cant find my cows in my scrub block, they are all lying down happily ruminating, this is what cows do. If I want to find them I have to go in mid afternoon when they are all up and grazing. If I was further north in the tropics I would want to add a bit of ear for tick resistance also or colour if ticks were not an issue, Charolais appeal to me.

Ken

The winters in North Carolina are not severe but the summers can be 100°F and 100% humidity which sucks for almost every mammal.
Where these Aubracs came from, Montana, gets very cold and the same breeder sells a good number of bulls into Canada where it gets very cold. They do quite well in it. The heavy, dark winter coat seems to work very well and to shed down to a light tan color in the summer makes good sense to me.
My Murray Greys seem to do well in the heat but this is our first summer with this breed. They put on a long white coat for winter and did fine this past winter and I am pretty sure winters are tougher in Oklahoma than we have here as well. I would assume you have some exposure to MG, but these have not had any Australian blood in decades so they probably aren't that similar.
In my opinion, the ability to shed has only to do with how well the animal fits the system it's in - nutrition, climate, work load, etc. Unless shedding has been selected out of them, a cow with a proper functioning endocrine system should shed off if it is thriving in the system it is in.

 

[coachg]

I have black angus and polled Hereford cows . I see as many red ones in the pond as black ones and the same for out in the heat grazing . I know a lady that has some of the finest black angus cattle around across the Florida line not far from LA ( lower Alabama) , gizmom. How much shade are provided for feed lot cattle ?

 

[andybob]

The winters in North Carolina are not severe but the summers can be 100°F and 100% humidity which sucks for almost every mammal.
Where these Aubracs came from, Montana, gets very cold and the same breeder sells a good number of bulls into Canada where it gets very cold. They do quite well in it. The heavy, dark winter coat seems to work very well and to shed down to a light tan color in the summer makes good sense to me.
My Murray Greys seem to do well in the heat but this is our first summer with this breed. They put on a long white coat for winter and did fine this past winter and I am pretty sure winters are tougher in Oklahoma than we have here as well. I would assume you have some exposure to MG, but these have not had any Australian blood in decades so they probably aren't that similar.
In my opinion, the ability to shed has only to do with how well the animal fits the system it's in - nutrition, climate, work load, etc. Unless shedding has been selected out of them, a cow with a proper functioning endocrine system should shed off if it is thriving in the system it is in.

Both breeds are excellent for a wider range of climatic conditions, and both breeds have been used in composites for harsh,hot conditions, with Sanga breeds used to bring in the parasite resistance here are some pictures of the older foundation cows in my herd in Raeford North Carolina; https://sangacattle.webs.com/apps/photos/album?albumid=9131490

 

[damengineer]

I see no one has mentioned my favorite, the Longhorn. I have a longhorn bull and my longhorn/angus cross cattle are out much earlier in the afternoon grazing. I have left a lot of trees so they would have access to shade. Atthe sale barn I get screwed because of the color and the horns. I have fedthem out and the meat is great. I don't feed them out until 24 months.

 

[damengineer]

Take a look at this.. https://miamistandard.news/2022/06/...o-wipe-out-large-numbers-of-animals-on-earth/

 

[BC]

I have black angus and polled Hereford cows . I see as many red ones in the pond as black ones and the same for out in the heat grazing . I know a lady that has some of the finest black angus cattle around across the Florida line not far from LA ( lower Alabama) , gizmom. How much shade are provided for feed lot cattle ?

Watch this tour of Bar G Feedyard in the Texas panhandle, one of the largest. Notice there is not much or any shade. Feedyard cattle differ from cattle in pasture in they are fed to gain 3 to 4.5 lbs per day.

 

[Jeanne - Simme Valley]

I have a hard time believing thousands of cattle all died at the same time from HEAT. Every animal handles stress differently.

 

[SoilBuilder]

Where established composites are not docked, there is no reason to change, though a rancher with a large commercial herd over several properties added 25% Red Tuli to his herd 20+ years ago to improve some performance traits. Where "eared" cattle are docked, but summer heat can be a problem, Sanga breeds are an option to consider.

It is not only black hided cattle although they are more susceptible to heat stress, but British and European breeds as a whole, which struggle with heat stress. Some breeds cope better than others - Murray Grey, Sussex and some Shorthorn strains for example, but the long term solution is to develop suitable composites to bring in heat adapted traits, while not compromising on performance or beef quality - https://sangacattle.webs.com/apps/f...need-for-african-breed-composites-in-the-usa-

Yes, i have incorporated Mashona and Senepol genetics into my Cracker, Lowline, and Wagyu cattle to thrive in the heat and humidity of central Florida. I am thinking of adding some Nguni blood as well.

 

[andybob]

Yes, i have incorporated Mashona and Senepol genetics into my Cracker, Lowline, and Wagyu cattle to thrive in the heat and humidity of central Florida. I am thinking of adding some Nguni blood as well.

Will you be able to market Nguni crosses, as the mixed colours are very dominant in the crosses? The only source of Nguni for the USA would be Australia at present as the export of semen and embryos from South Africa has been put on hold due to foot and mouth outbreaks in the north a while back. Join the Australian Nguni group on facebook to build up some contacts; https://www.facebook.com/groups/nguniaustralia

 

[Lee VanRoss]

I have a hard time believing thousands of cattle all died at the same time from HEAT. Every animal handles stress differently.

Perhaps you should strike the Rock of Meribah again,