Thousands of cattle in Kansas died over the weekend amid a sizzling heat wave and high humidity levels that continue to threaten livestock in one of the nation’s top cattle-producing states.
There were at least 2,000 cattle deaths in southwest Kansas over the weekend , Kansas Department of Health and Environment spokesperson Matthew Lara told USA TODAY in a statement. The deaths were reported to the department by facilities that reached out for help disposing of the carcasses.
Much of Kansas saw heat advisories amid triple-digit temperatures and high humidity Saturday and Sunday, according to the National Weather Service.
The heat itself is not abnormal for Kansas and cattle are typically able to tolerate it relatively well, said A.J. Tarpoff, associate professor and beef extension veterinarian for Kansas State University. The heat combined with reduced cooling winds and high humidity created harsh conditions for the cattle, he said.
A relatively mild spring may have also prevented the animals from properly adapting to higher temperatures, Tarpoff added.
“Some cattle may not have fully shed their winter coats by now, which would interfere with their ability to dissipate heat,” he said.
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Signs of heat stress in cattle include heavy breathing, open-mouth breathing, spending more time standing and restlessness, Michael Kleinhenz, assistant professor of beef production medicine at Kansas State University, said in an email to USA TODAY. Ranchers who notice these signs should try to cool the animal down by moving it to a shaded area and sprinkling water on it, Kleinhenz said.
Many producers already have plans in place that include increasing water tank capacity, minimizing any movement of the cattle, modifying nutrition, using straw bedding to cool pen floors or using water sprinklers, Tarpoff said.
Tarpoff recommended using the U.S. Meat Animal Research Center’s heat stress forecasting tool to monitor conditions.
“Closely monitoring conditions will help prepare producers to implement their mitigation strategies,” he said.
Tarpoff also warned ranchers to make sure they are staying safe in the heat and keeping hydrated as “these situations are stressful on cattle as well as the people that care of them on a daily basis.”
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Kleinhenz said the deaths are a “significant loss to the producers and industry” in the largest sector of Kansas’s agriculture industry, according to the state’s department of agriculture. Kansas is also the third largest U.S. cattle state, according to the department.
It may be too soon to know what effect the cattle deaths may have on consumers, Kleinhenz added.
Southwest cattle rancher Bradon Wiens told The Hutchinson News, part of the USA TODAY Network, that most of the cattle deaths he has heard of were in feedlots rather than ranches. A feedlot near him called the fire department to spray their cattle in the heat, Wiens said. But his own cattle are doing well with trees and lean-tos for shade.
“If they have trees and fresh running water, then they’re going to be doing OK,” Wiens said.
Lara, from the Kansas Department of Health and Environment, said he is unable to pinpoint where the majority of the deaths took place.
Pretty Prairie rancher Chad Basinger, of Basinger’s Beef, said he is keeping his fatter cattle near his home with buckets of water nearby, The Hutchinson News reported. He said all his pastures have shade and ponds or creeks.
The severe heat continues this week with a heat advisory in effect Thursday for much of northern Kansas and expected heat index values up to 108 degrees. The hot and humid conditions are also expected to stretch into next week, according to the weather service.
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With humidity expected to drop, Kleinhenz said it may make mitigation efforts more effective. But producers will still have to be on high alert, he said.
Tarpoff said he is hopeful the death toll for Kansas cattle will drop.
“Cattle are a robust animal that can adapt quickly,” he said. “As long as our traditional Kansas breeze continues, we have nighttime cooling hours, and producers continue all the great work they are doing for their animals, we should be able to move forward from this event without continued losses.”
Contact News Now Reporter Christine Fernando at cfernando@usatoday.com or follow her on Twitter at @christinetfern.