I was living in Kansas during the heat wave of 2011-2012 and don't remember thousands of cattle dying.
Yeah, I was living here then too and don't remember 'em dying but, to be fair, I don't remember "the heat wave of 2011-2012."
I do was working at El Dorado SP we had 53 100* plus days that was 2011 was the hottest since 1936. T he summer of 2012 wasn't as hot we had around 30 plus days of 100*
How many years have we been shoving fats into tight confinement? 100? 150?
How many times have those pens been exposed to similar weather conditions? 1000s upon 1000s.
If losses such as this have occurred in the past, solely due to summer temps, I would sure like to hear about it.
Now, if in fact this was a 2000 count loss from a 200,000 head operation, that is a different situation.
The story read as if it was a 100% loss.
And this is exactly the reason I'm not buying losing 2,000 head all one night.
I’m not either. Worked cows plenty of times when it’s been 110 degrees. And we only had black cows. Another words. Registered Black Angus. We never lost a cow to heat stress In my lifetime Only loss one old cow to cold back in 1983. And she was old enough she was looking for a place to die. The only other cows we ever loss were cows that were calving, stillborn calf’s, or newborn calf’s. Either the water or feed was toxic, would be my best guess.
"Allways speak the truth and you will never have to remember what you said before..." Sam Houston Texans, "We say Grace, We Say Mam, If You Don't Like it, We Don't Give a Damn!"
I lived in SW Kansas over 15 years. Heard of larger numbers of feed lot deaths with a big snow. They can't clear the pens of snow quick enough. There are some huge feed lots out there with more than 100,000 head of cattle. There are also hog feeding operations in SW Kansas. Haven't heard anything about that. Most of these deaths were around Ulysses FWIW. 80% of beef bought by the US gov't (mostly military) come from SW Kansas.
The KC area feedlots have been watching their costs since feeders were $2/lb . We were loving that but weren’t expecting longevity. That was around 7 years ago. Of course we had the biggest losses then. And so it goes....
Massive die offs in this region have been due to intentional poisoning via water, a dependence on toxic feed (fescue foot), or a gate closure restraining access to water. Never had any nerve gas issues.
It is obvious some of you have never been in a large open cattle feed lot in the summer.
I amazed the death loss isn't higher.
The heat, humidity, sun, and air quality can be deadly to crowded, overweight mostly black cattle. Most estimates in Kansas are losses of 100 to 500 head per day. Totally believable
It is obvious some of you have never been in a large open cattle feed lot in the summer.
I amazed the death loss isn't higher.
The heat, humidity, sun, and air quality can be deadly to crowded, overweight mostly black cattle. Most estimates in Kansas are losses of 100 to 500 head per day. Totally believable
Despite the heat plus high humidity which is even worse in a feedlot situation,(definitely not the same type of heat you'd feel in a pasture situation) I had heard rumors from a friend of a friend of a friend type of deal that they were thirsted. Waters went down, pen riders didn't check them. I'm a bit skeptical because out of anything, waters are the first thing I worry about. Horses and cattle can go a long time without feed but not water and especially in a feed lot situation in the heat.
Wasn’t just one feedlot from what I’ve seen. It was spread out throughout that region.
It wasn’t just that it was hot.
Abnormally cool weather leading up to a light switch being turned on of the triple digit temps.
Plus extreme high humidity in a region that doesn’t typically have humidity. I lived in Dodge City one summer. The difference in humidity and 100 degree temps from Dodge versus my hometown in southeast Kansas was like daylight and dark.
Plus it wasn’t cooling at night like it normally does.
So no time to acclimate, plus high heat, plus high humidity, plus no nighttime cooling led to a pile of dead animals.
It is obvious some of you have never been in a large open cattle feed lot in the summer.
I amazed the death loss isn't higher.
The heat, humidity, sun, and air quality can be deadly to crowded, overweight mostly black cattle. Most estimates in Kansas are losses of 100 to 500 head per day. Totally believable
Cheesy's post is spot on...this was a abnormal high temp event and cattle were not acclimated yet.... lots of them still have winter hair in June. Cattle die every year due to heat stress, multiple days in humid weather in 95-100 degree heat is tough. If the wind dies around 7 pm...watch out.
How many years have we been shoving fats into tight confinement? 100? 150?
How many times have those pens been exposed to similar weather conditions? 1000s upon 1000s.
If losses such as this have occurred in the past, solely due to summer temps, I would sure like to hear about it.
Now, if in fact this was a 2000 count loss from a 200,000 head operation, that is a different situation.
The story read as if it was a 100% loss.
And this is exactly the reason I'm not buying losing 2,000 head all one night.
I’m not either. Worked cows plenty of times when it’s been 110 degrees. And we only had black cows. Another words. Registered Black Angus. We never lost a cow to heat stress In my lifetime Only loss one old cow to cold back in 1983. And she was old enough she was looking for a place to die. The only other cows we ever loss were cows that were calving, stillborn calf’s, or newborn calf’s. Either the water or feed was toxic, would be my best guess.
Bullshit... where does it regularly get to 110 and they have black angus? You exaggerate too much to be called honest
How many years have we been shoving fats into tight confinement? 100? 150?
How many times have those pens been exposed to similar weather conditions? 1000s upon 1000s.
If losses such as this have occurred in the past, solely due to summer temps, I would sure like to hear about it.
Now, if in fact this was a 2000 count loss from a 200,000 head operation, that is a different situation.
The story read as if it was a 100% loss.
And this is exactly the reason I'm not buying losing 2,000 head all one night.
I’m not either. Worked cows plenty of times when it’s been 110 degrees. And we only had black cows. Another words. Registered Black Angus. We never lost a cow to heat stress In my lifetime Only loss one old cow to cold back in 1983. And she was old enough she was looking for a place to die. The only other cows we ever loss were cows that were calving, stillborn calf’s, or newborn calf’s. Either the water or feed was toxic, would be my best guess.
Bullshit... where does it regularly get to 110 and they have black angus? You exaggerate too much to be called honest
Ummm. Anywhere between Amarillo to Wichita Falls and many places south???
With that said, I think lack of shade/June heat (rather than July/August with lighter coat/hair) could’ve done it. There wasn’t a cool place to be found.
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