Some people consider their farm animals as pets, so they take careful care of their “pets” to prevent them from diseases throughout the hot summer.

Keeping your Farm Animals Cool in Summer

In hot summer, you should keep your farm clean, well-watered, and sheltered for your animals. Animals raised for meat, such as chickens, ducks, and geese, are very susceptible to heatstroke. You should reduce the number of poultry on each farm by splitting the farmhouse into small areas to get enough air circulation. You can also put a ventilation system in the coop and keep a close eye on your farm animals.

Farm animals in the covered coop

Cattle Care in Hot Summer 

Cattle can regulate their body temperature through the heat of digestion (fermentation in the rumen produces heat). According to research from Tom Welsh, Texas A&M University Department of Animal Science, high-quality forage produces less heat during digestion than low-quality forage with more fiber. Thus, in hot summer, using high-quality forage can be a way to reduce the heat load on farm animals.

Besides, you must grasp your farm animals’ habits. Cattle are not interested in eating or moving much when it’s hot, and they won’t eat as well during midday. If you want to keep your cattle eating at optimum levels, you should feed them at least two hours after the peak ambient temperature, so when they generate heat from digestion, it’s not during the highest temperatures of the day.

Farm animals on the slopes

During summertime, the shade is also important so that the cattle can get out of the sunlight if they need to. You should know that the shade along the bottom of a brushy creek may be infested with biting flies or have little wind movement due to the windbreak effect, so you should keep your cattle on a high point or ridge where there is a breeze to keep the insects at bay.

How to Care for Your Pig’s Health in Hot Summer 

Pigs are extremely susceptible to heatstroke because they can't cool down easily on their own. Mature pigs are most comfortable when air temperatures are between 50-75°F and when they get hot, they only can sweat through the tip of their snout and pant to cool down. So, you should use some sort of artificial or natural wallows for their pigsty, retrofit-insulated arcs, and misting in the dunging area. In extreme cases of heatstroke, you may need to hose them down to get them cool as quickly as possible. Finally, you should feed them during cooler times of the day when pigs are more likely to want to eat and keep feeders free flowing and free of mold to encourage feed intake.

Sheep Habits and How to Care for Them in Summer

According to Julian (Skip) Olson, DVM, technical services manager for Milk Products, "Heat-stressed lambs could experience a decrease in growth rate due to a loss of appetite and suppressed immunity, which can lead to other health challenges." In hot summer, sheep water consumption typically increases by 50% once temperatures reach 70 degrees F and by nearly 100% at 80 degrees F. As a result, you should supply your animals with free-choice electrolytes with drinking water two to three times every day. Electrolyte supplements containing electrolytes, energy, and amino acids are designed to help replenish fluids and lost nutrients.

Farm animals in hot summer

Furthermore, you should take care of the newly shorn sheep. They are more likely to suffer from heat stress than fully fleeced sheep since the fleece functions as insulation against the heat. It's also important to remember that we should avoid transporting animals in hot weather unless absolutely necessary. When possible, you can move them at night or at a cooler time. 

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We hope you will enjoy it!See you in the next article.