Respiration rate can indicate livestock heat stress

Now’s the time to be watching your livestock for heat stress. Something producers can check is the respiratory rate, to see if their animals are becoming overheated.

University of Missouri associate animal science professor Don Spiers says producers can usually tell when their cattle are breathing too hard, but counting their breaths per minute can indicate their level of heat stress, "If 10% of the herd is around 70 to 120, it is highly recommended that they don't try moving that herd that day."

He says you can very quickly tell what their respiration rate is, "I don't know whether producers are used to measuring their respiratory rate but you can look at an animal and you don't have to monitor it for a minute. Just 30 seconds and just double it."

Spiers suggests hosing your cattle down if the rate gets near or above 120 breaths per minute to try and cool them off.

source:www.brownfieldnetwork.com