Hi friends,
The heat has hit Shekinah Farm hard! One of our horses, Hicks, collapsed and died the day before my birthday (not a happy gift) and Aviva (our youngest bred heifer) had a still birth. The calf was a bull and was half born when I went out to check on her. I pulled him the rest of the way out and gave Avi some food, water, probiotics and a vit. B complex shot. She was fine by the next morning. But the heat is bringing much concern and sad tidings here.
Our farm has a pond and a stand of trees at the back of the pasture that gives a cool area for the animals. Typically, the animals are in separate paddocks, but during the worst heat we open them up and let them all go to the back of the pasture to the pond and trees so they can stay cool and have plenty of water, and we watch them very closely for issues... unfortunately, this just was not enough for Hicks. In the morning he was doing fine, by mid day he was dead. This is a very difficult loss on our farm.
The heat has also taken it's toll on our milk and egg production. The chickens are stressed and are not laying as much as they should and the cows are slowing down milk production. It looks as if we may have to come up with some other options for keeping the animals cool during the unusual heat we are having.
If the heat continues like this through August and September, I'm not sure what we will do. The animals are already stressed and I'm afraid we may have more losses this year. Praying Yah's hand on Shekinah Farm!
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Wow. This heat is really taking a toll there at Shekinah. I wonder if some sort of radiant barrier on the housing/shelter areas might help reduce the extreme temperatures in the sheltered areas? I was thinking of the radiant barrier rolls or even some of the 'nano paints' that offer radiant barrier. What have you tried so far?
ReplyDeleteWe have opened up the gates to the back of the pasture. There they have a stand of trees and spring fed pond as a cooler run-in than just under a tin roof with no air movement. We also spray them down with water morning and evening and check on them all through the day. I will spray them down through the day if they are up by the barn, otherwise they are usually back under the trees or in the pond.
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