Hauling Cattle in the HEAT

[3waycross]

As was posted on the breeds board: I need to go to Hutch KS in the middle of Aug to pick up 3 heifers and maybe a weanling young bull and bring them back to Colorado.

My plan was to haul them in my 20 ft trailer with no more than two in each compartment. I plan on leaving tubs of water in with them in transit and refreshing those at least twice. I was also thinking of maybe spraying them lightly with water when I stop to help- cool them. What concerns me most is that the spraying them would induce shipping fever or cause more rather than less stress. This is an 8 hour trip barring problems. Two of these girls will be within a month of calving.

I appreciate any and all "Constructive" input.

 

[jedstivers]

Haul them at night, don't stop much an some people put 25 gal sprayers in the truck on on the neck of the trailor an set them up to mist. I would think KS to CO would not be to bad on them as every day pots come through here packed full. If cattle can surive I-40 heat an humidity in Ar in July an August they should be fine out there.

 

[SRBeef]

Haul them at night, don't stop much an some people put 25 gal sprayers in the truck on on the neck of the trailor an set them up to mist. I would think KS to CO would not be to bad on them as every day pots come through here packed full. If cattle can surive I-40 heat an humidity in Ar in July an August they should be fine out there.

Jed I saw a livestock trailer behind a pickup on the interstate in the other day with about a 50-75 gallon tank on top with a pump setup. I was wondering what that was but now that you mention it it was probably a spray setup as you describe. Thanks. how is the corn holding up?

Jim

 

[3waycross]

I am not set up to mist them. I am wondering if I stop every couple of hours and spray them with a hose if that would accomplish the same thing?

 

[larryshoat]

I think it would help to give them a light misting. I would spray down the outside of the trailer too.

Larry

 

[3waycross]

I think it would help to give them a light misting. I would spray down the outside of the trailer too.

Larry

Good idea Larry. I imagine that metal will get pretty hot and my trailer is red so it absorbs some heat. I can hose it down and cool the metal and kust hit the cows with a fine mist. At 60 tp 70 mph there should be more than adequate air flow and with them not being crowded at all they won't be making a lot of heat in the trailer

 

[TexasBred]

I think it would help to give them a light misting. I would spray down the outside of the trailer too.

Larry

It won't hurt anything but don't mist them.....WET them down..soak them long enough to really cool them down....misting only holds in heat and is goin in 5 minutes. A good heavy drink of water everytime you stop would help as well.

 

[Howdyjabo]

I have to disagree- wetting them inconstantly in airlow will just throw their thermal system off. IE Cold /hot/cold /hot and damp all the time. Misters (unless you have a mostly enclosed trailer) is fairly useless the air is going by too fast to get cooled or to fast for the animals to get damp enough to make use of evaporative cooling. Not to mention wet floors are dangerous floors.

Make sure they are full of hay and water before they are loaded.
Travel at night- Do not stop . Bathroom breaks need to be fast.
Taveling at night will give you time to deal with a breakdown or congestion(stopped or slowed travel) without the cattle sitting in the sun- keep in mind that shade is more important than water on them or in them .
- bring a tarp for a sun shade, just in case its needed.
- make sure you have a way to change a tire with the trailer loaded.

Avoid sitting still in the sun- and you should be fine.

 

[JHH]

I think it would help to give them a light misting. I would spray down the outside of the trailer too.

Larry

It won't hurt anything but don't mist them.....WET them down..soak them long enough to really cool them down....misting only holds in heat and is goin in 5 minutes. A good heavy drink of water everytime you stop would help as well.

Sounds good. But I have a question. WILL they drink? I know if I haul cows just 20 miles to the fair they wont drink the (city) water unless they have been used to it. They wait till the next day. But they may not be thirsty till then.

I would think a srayer setup would be really simple to rig up but that would make the floor slick and unless you have a rubber type mat could have some injury from it?

 

[MO_cows]

I think how they are treated right before the trip is about as important as the haul itself. If they are settled down, not all stressed and excited, and have had their fill of water, they'll make that trip just fine. Plenty of space in the trailer like you planned and not letting them sit around in the sun while on the trip, sounds like plenty of precaution. I wouldn't leave a tub of water in the trailer to slosh out and make the floor slick.

We had to haul ours to a friend's farm back and forth for breeding several years. The trip up there it was always hot weather and the trailer had to be packed tighter every year. That was only a 2 1/2 hour trip, admittedly shorter than yours, but they always did fine, even the young calves.

 

[Suzie Q]

I would say travel them at night also.

Bear with me as I am going to talk about horses not cattle.

If a horse is too hot, you wet and then scrape the water off. Wet and scrape the water off over and over.

Scraping the water off helps to cool them. Leaving the water on can overheat them.

Same with people we sweat to cool down and it is the sweat leaving the body that cools us down, not sitting on the skin. I presume cows work the same as we are all mammals. JMHO.

 

[TexasBred]

Jhh no way you can make them drink...but you can at least make it available. Water is more important than anything. Even feed. Dehydration will be the most likely problem IF there is one. (just like humans) Use to be places where you could unload cattle and rest them and water them...don't know if they exist anymore or not. The cool of night would be a benefit. Wetting won't hurt them. The body temp. won't change that much but they will get refreshed. Water is no wetter nor slicker than pee.

 

[3waycross]

I would say travel them at night also.

Bear with me as I am going to talk about horses not cattle.

If a horse is too hot, you wet and then scrape the water off. Wet and scrape the water off over and over.

Scraping the water off helps to cool them. Leaving the water on can overheat them.

Same with people we sweat to cool down and it is the sweat leaving the body that cools us down, not sitting on the skin. I presume cows work the same as we are all mammals. JMHO.

All due respect. I used to work the racetracks when I was kid. I know how to cool a horse. The idea of getting into a trailer with two very large heifers and trying to run a scraper over them does not appeal to me much. They would stopm the livin crap out of a man pretty quick.

I have a question and maybe I am all wrong but if they are not crowded in any way, well bedded, able to lay down if they want, and in a trailer moving @ 60mph with pretty open sides why would they not be actually cooler inside there in the shade than standing out in a pasture in Ks at 100 drgrees. I would think the air flow alone would keep them a lot cooler. Does this make any sense.

 

[TexasBred]

3Way 100 degrees is the same standing still or going 60-70 mph and they will eventually dehydrate without water. Being out of the direct sun will help them some as well.

 

[jedstivers]

Haul them at night, don't stop much an some people put 25 gal sprayers in the truck on on the neck of the trailor an set them up to mist. I would think KS to CO would not be to bad on them as every day pots come through here packed full. If cattle can surive I-40 heat an humidity in Ar in July an August they should be fine out there.

Jed I saw a livestock trailer behind a pickup on the interstate in the other day with about a 50-75 gallon tank on top with a pump setup. I was wondering what that was but now that you mention it it was probably a spray setup as you describe. Thanks. how is the corn holding up?

Jim

Hi Jim, the watered corn is great. The dryland is toast, most probly won't be harvested. We usualy don't have any dryland here as it will fail every year but this year there is a great ins. program so there are thousands of dry acres of it.

 

[jedstivers]

I would say travel them at night also.

Bear with me as I am going to talk about horses not cattle.

If a horse is too hot, you wet and then scrape the water off. Wet and scrape the water off over and over.

Scraping the water off helps to cool them. Leaving the water on can overheat them.

Same with people we sweat to cool down and it is the sweat leaving the body that cools us down, not sitting on the skin. I presume cows work the same as we are all mammals. JMHO.

All due respect. I used to work the racetracks when I was kid. I know how to cool a horse. The idea of getting into a trailer with two very large heifers and trying to run a scraper over them does not appeal to me much. They would stopm the livin crap out of a man pretty quick.

They will be fine, load them an shag a$$. Thousands go down I-40 every week.

I have a question and maybe I am all wrong but if they are not crowded in any way, well bedded, able to lay down if they want, and in a trailer moving @ 60mph with pretty open sides why would they not be actually cooler inside there in the shade than standing out in a pasture in Ks at 100 drgrees. I would think the air flow alone would keep them a lot cooler. Does this make any sense.

 

[3waycross]

3Way 100 degrees is the same standing still or going 60-70 mph and they will eventually dehydrate without water. Being out of the direct sun will help them some as well.

I have some of those big blue lick tubs that I am going to put in each section so that they can have water all the way if they want it. I will just fill em half full and stop every couple of hours to fill up with gas and probably spray the girls down and refill the tubs. I sure some will spill but I will bed the trailer well with straw and they should be OK.

I sure appreciate everyone's input.

 

[3waycross]

I would say travel them at night also.

Bear with me as I am going to talk about horses not cattle.

If a horse is too hot, you wet and then scrape the water off. Wet and scrape the water off over and over.

Scraping the water off helps to cool them. Leaving the water on can overheat them.

Same with people we sweat to cool down and it is the sweat leaving the body that cools us down, not sitting on the skin. I presume cows work the same as we are all mammals. JMHO.

All due respect. I used to work the racetracks when I was kid. I know how to cool a horse. The idea of getting into a trailer with two very large heifers and trying to run a scraper over them does not appeal to me much. They would stopm the livin crap out of a man pretty quick.

They will be fine, load them an shag a$$. Thousands go down I-40 every week.

Thanks Jed. That looks pretty much like the plan. I will leave at or before daylight to beat the heat some.

I have a question and maybe I am all wrong but if they are not crowded in any way, well bedded, able to lay down if they want, and in a trailer moving @ 60mph with pretty open sides why would they not be actually cooler inside there in the shade than standing out in a pasture in Ks at 100 drgrees. I would think the air flow alone would keep them a lot cooler. Does this make any sense.

 

[Texas PaPaw]

3 way

We regularly ship cattle 5hrs by gooseneck in daytime with no problems. We send full loads but not packed like sardines. See pot loads that are shipped a lot farther every day. Many sale barns will provide rest stop service with prior notice. If you can find a salebarn close to midway could probably unload for a water stop although with the few head you can just give them water in the trailer. Hauling at night would make it cooler. If they are in the shade and have plenty of air movement they should be ok even in the daytime.

Best wishes

 

[Suzie Q]

LOL - I did not mean get in with them to scrape them off. What I meant was I wouldn't water them down and that is why. Although cattle trucks are different to horse floats, so you may have air going around them, so that might cool them down if you wet them.

Travelling at night will also be better for your truck if it is too hot during the day.

I agree with above, them drinking water is more important.