Summer Heat Stress
Mother Nature isn’t playing nice this year. Temperatures are rising across the country, and excessive heat is accompanied by increased humidity in many areas. Regardless of the hours of work and preparation you’ve invested in your livestock projects, summer heat stress remains a challenge to plan for and manage.
Sure Champ®, a line of products that support the health and well-being of show livestock, wants your animals to stay healthy and perform to their optimum. Sure Champ provides products that can help mitigate and relieve heat stress.
Defining Summer Heat Stress
While we typically think about summer heat stress in extreme temperatures, the reality is that anytime the temperature exceeds 70 degrees, livestock are adversely affected. Heat stress causes increased respiration rate, suppressed appetite, fatigue, and dehydration, all leading to a lowered immune response. These challenges, coupled with the strenuous expectations we put on our show livestock to perform at the highest level, only compound the impact of heat stress.
6 Heat Stress Best Practices
As feeders, we must follow best practices and implement some simple, but important steps to ensure fewer setbacks due to heat stress. In turn, you should experience greater success with your show livestock projects.
1. Take a proactive approach.
Don’t simply react to the temperature changes. Watch the weather and make wise decisions. It is a lot harder to bring down livestock’s body temperature once they are hot than it is to manage it before it rises.
2. Manage your facility.
Make sure your barn and pens are comfortable for your animals. Be sure your animals can get out of direct sunlight into shade. Managing air flow and temperature is critical. Whether your facility at home has fans, misters or even an elaborate cooler, controlling airflow is crucial. If you can provide an environment that minimizes exposure to direct sunlight and allows for air to move through, even in the most extreme heat, you can drastically reduce the outside temperature. Keeping bedding down and misting water in the air will also help cool the air that fans push through your facility.
3. Modify your feeding program.
Just like humans, livestock don’t want to eat when it is extremely hot. Feed earlier in the mornings so they have a chance to eat and be moved into the barn before it gets hot. Also, pay attention to the location of their water supply. Smaller troughs provide more water flow and result in cooler water. Make sure lines that serve as water sources are not exposed to the sun, resulting in warm water.
4. Rinse and repeat.
Rinsing animals with cool water multiple times a day will help drop their core temperature better than anything else you do. When rinsing, focus on cooling their underline and head as it will help cool them faster. Don’t just get them wet but allow cool water to run over them a while to help drop their body temperature.
5. Plan your hauling strategy.
Strategically plan when you haul to shows. During hot periods of the year, hauling at night is the most ideal to help reduce the time they will be exposed to the heat of a trailer. Make sure you have adjusted the ventilation on the trailer to allow for adequate air flow while traveling.
6. Maintain a routine.
Most importantly, once you arrive at the show, it’s critical to maintain the same schedule of caring for your stock. Continue to feed early and maintain body temperature by keeping animals rinsed regularly and under fans. It’s easy to get excited to see your friends and lose focus on your projects. However, lots of preparation and time have been put into your animals, so continue your same routine at the show that you have done at home. Summer heat stress can be a challenge at shows, but it can also be turned into an advantage for those who prepare properly. Stay positive, stay cool, and prep to win!
Make Nutrition Part of the Summer Heat Stress Solution
BioZyme® Inc., makers of Sure Champ, has two options to help your animals regulate their body temperatures naturally.
Sure Champ® Extreme with ClariFly® is a pelleted, daily supplement for show livestock with ClariFly designed to support hoof health, hair coat, and performance when temperatures are above 70 degrees. It is designed for cattle, sheep, goats, and pigs. It contains AO-Biotics® Amaferm®, a natural prebiotic, research-proven to enhance digestibility. Additionally, it contains MOS that helps normalize gut microflora and support the immune system. It also has HEAT® technology, a combination of essential oils and garlic, and ClariFly to support animals when insects are a challenge.
Sure Champ® Climate Control Gel is a gel for all livestock designed to support digestive health and recovery when temperatures are above 70 degrees. The Climate Control Gel promotes appetite and water intake. It also contains Amaferm and the HEAT technology. We suggest starting the gel a week to 10 days before a show and keeping livestock on the gel through the show. This keeps your animals more relaxed, cool, and comfortable, resulting in better appetite and higher energy levels, allowing them to look their best on show day.
Get your Sure Champ Today
Mitigate summer heat stress with products from Sure Champ, research-proven for 40 years to help increase gut health, increase appetite, help alleviate stress and much more. We hope that part of your routine will include Sure Champ products.
You can trust the accuracy and safety of all Sure Champ products that are made right here in the U.S. – either in Saint Joseph, Missouri, or Lexington, Kentucky. Our Saint Joseph Stockyards location earned the American Feed Industry Association (AFIA) and Feedstuffs 2024 Feed Facility of the Year honor.
You can get your Sure Champ products as easily as ordering online today.
Do you prefer to support a local Sure Champ dealer? Find a dealer near you to find all your favorite Sure Champ and other BioZyme products.
Want to stay current on all of our educational blogs and news? Sign up for our newsletter.
