Cows are dying from heat stress in Australia

The death began over the weekend. Some farms lost from 20 to 50 heads on the first day, while the financial loss to agricultural producers amounts to more than $100 thousand per day. It is reported that cattle of British breeds and animals in the final stage of fattening were most seriously affected.

The cause of the death of the livestock was weather conditions that are described as a “perfect storm”: hot weather (up to 39 °C) and high humidity (97%) with an almost complete absence of wind (rare gusts not exceeding 2 m/s). However, the situation was aggravated by unusually high temperatures observed at night, which increased the load on livestock in feedlots.

“Cattle usually cool down when temperatures drop in the evening, but unusually high nighttime temperatures of 28-30 °C prevented this from happening,” the publication cites an explanation received from one of the industry representatives. The looming problem was known in advance, and feedlot veterinarians did everything they could to prevent the deaths, he said.