Cold Weather Advisories For Newborn Livestock

Calving season can be challenging when extremely cold conditions, wind, and precipitation affect the health of newborn livestock. A resource at the National Weather Service’s website can help producers forecast and prepare for these weather conditions if they anticipate some newborns on the farm or ranch.

The Cold Advisory for Newborn Livestock (CANL) forecast at the Aberdeen area’s National Weather Service website was created with input from northern U.S. ranchers, experts in animal science and those who study biological responses to extreme weather conditions. The CANL forecast takes into account five factors: wind chill, rain or wet snow, high humidity, combinations of wind chill and precipitation, and sunshine vs. cloudy days. As a result, it is a quick and easy way to combine several weather factors together to determine the hazardous weather risk to your newborn calves.

A six-category scale (See Figure 1) was developed to identify the risk of hazardous conditions for newborn livestock, ranging from None (green color) to Extreme (red color). The categories are described as:

•  NONE: Wind Chill above 41 degrees
•  SLIGHT: Wind Chill less than 41 degrees for 2 or more hours
•  MILD: Wind Chill less than 32 degrees for 2 or more hours
•  MODERATE: Wind Chill less than 0 degrees for 2 or more hours or Wind        Chill less than 32 degrees and .02" precipitation

• SEVERE: Wind Chill of -9 degrees or colder for two or more hours, or wind chill of less than 32 degrees and .05" of precipitation

• EXTREME: Wind Chill of -18 or colder for two or more hours, or wind chill     less than 32 degrees and .1" of precipitation