The whole issue of heat tolerance has been buzzing around in my head for some time and I've come up with some ideas based on observations.
Withe temps in the low 70s and moderate to low humidity I haven't seen any real difference between different breeds. One of the boaarders was a pond sitter, but she was there day and night. She would come out and graze with the others for a while then beat feet back to the pond. Even with temps in 50s she just liked being in that pond.
When there is a good forage base, a cow doesn't need to spend all that much time grazing. So for those kinds of situations the heat tolerance to allow long periods of grazing are pretty much a moot point.
The neioghbors Gerts spend more time grazing then my british, but he has a lower quality pasture. The Holsteins at the dairy, mostly white with black spotting spend a lot of time shaded up during the day. Even though they're on pasture, the grain load seems to allow them to forage less. It's also hard for me to judge the body condition of a Holstein. If she's getting fat she's cheating, otherwise they all look skinny to me. That's from all angles includiing underneath while milking.
SSo, here's my idea. If you have a good forage base or better as long as there isn't heat stress, any breed will pretty much work in any given environment. There are people raising black Angus in FL, hot and humid and Gerts in Canada, not what I would consider an ideal climate for a heat developed breed.
Within each breed there are I'm sure canimals that are more heat or cold tolerant then others. Like the pond sitter.
Even when it's in the high 80s even with shade available our cows lay out in the sun. Some days a few may be under a tree, but on others different ones are shaded up.
Currently they're on staright lespedeza pasture and don't seem to be in the shade except very late in the day. But even then, they're just laying around chewing their cuds.
Winterss they spend more time grazing, but they need more fuel for their furnace plus the forage is of poorer wuality. But even then they're just as likely to lay under a treee as in the open or vice versa.
Whatcha think?
dun
Withe temps in the low 70s and moderate to low humidity I haven't seen any real difference between different breeds. One of the boaarders was a pond sitter, but she was there day and night. She would come out and graze with the others for a while then beat feet back to the pond. Even with temps in 50s she just liked being in that pond.
When there is a good forage base, a cow doesn't need to spend all that much time grazing. So for those kinds of situations the heat tolerance to allow long periods of grazing are pretty much a moot point.
The neioghbors Gerts spend more time grazing then my british, but he has a lower quality pasture. The Holsteins at the dairy, mostly white with black spotting spend a lot of time shaded up during the day. Even though they're on pasture, the grain load seems to allow them to forage less. It's also hard for me to judge the body condition of a Holstein. If she's getting fat she's cheating, otherwise they all look skinny to me. That's from all angles includiing underneath while milking.
SSo, here's my idea. If you have a good forage base or better as long as there isn't heat stress, any breed will pretty much work in any given environment. There are people raising black Angus in FL, hot and humid and Gerts in Canada, not what I would consider an ideal climate for a heat developed breed.
Within each breed there are I'm sure canimals that are more heat or cold tolerant then others. Like the pond sitter.
Even when it's in the high 80s even with shade available our cows lay out in the sun. Some days a few may be under a tree, but on others different ones are shaded up.
Currently they're on staright lespedeza pasture and don't seem to be in the shade except very late in the day. But even then, they're just laying around chewing their cuds.
Winterss they spend more time grazing, but they need more fuel for their furnace plus the forage is of poorer wuality. But even then they're just as likely to lay under a treee as in the open or vice versa.
Whatcha think?
dun