This week’s winter-like weather is a reminder that cold and wet conditions during calving season can be dangerous. A little bit of preparation and watching the weather forecast can avoid the most lethal situations for calves during their first 24 hours after birth. Calving is especially challenging when extremely cold conditions, wind and precipitation can affect the health of newborn livestock.
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 and 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.
Risk Scale
A six-category scale 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
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