Beef Producers Breeding for Heat Tolerance

By Pam Knox

As the temperature rises with this week’s heat wave, humans and animals both experience discomfort and potential harm from heat stress and other heat diseases. For livestock like cattle, the heat makes them less likely to want to eat, reducing weight gain and milk production. Prolonged periods of heat can reduce fertility in cows, further cutting into ranchers’ profits. Cattle producers have responded by producing new breeds of cattle that can better handle the hot conditions. My Florida cattleman cousin told me that they have included Brahman characteristics to better deal with the heat and humidity, but they do have some undesirable characteristics too. You can read more about it in Farm Progress