Livestock
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If you are an extension agent or producer in the Southeast, you might find these guides on hurricane preparation and recovery from the USDA Southeast Climate Hub to be very useful. There is a guide for each state in the Southeast but also a separate guide for each commodity, not just the regular commercial commodities…
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One of the secrets of the trend towards warmer temperatures over time is that a lot of the warming is not occurring during the day but at night. In Georgia, overnight low temperatures are rising at a rate that is double the increase in daytime high temperatures. This has special consequences for human and animal…
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After a cooler weekend, we are expecting to experience much higher temperatures later in the week. Humidity levels will be somewhat lower than last week, so nights should be a little cooler than we saw earlier, but still at the record-setting temperatures we are expecting (record for this time of year, not all-time), heat stress…
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Here’s a story from back in December that discusses the advantages of combining solar farms with agriculture, which could include either crops or livestock, to produce multiple benefits, including shading and cooler temperatures for the livestock and cooler soils for the crops. Even though there is some shading, there is still plenty of light for…
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While we don’t have large amounts of snow here in the Southeast, it does happen on occasion, especially if you are in North Carolina or Virginia. You might be interested in this story from Dairy Herd Management on how livestock farmers in New England have to prepare for snowstorms and cold weather. This is especially…
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Like many ecological disasters, there is not a single cause of the disaster. I was intrigued and saddened to read this story about the loss of many livestock in Mongolia due to a combination of extreme and more frequent drought and heavy winter snows coupled with overgrazing. The combination leaves little available food to get…
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The incredible rainfall that they have had in the Pacific Northwest has cut off parts of British Columbia, leaving dairy farms having to deal with lack of transportation for milk and supplies. Many animals also had to be rescued from the flood water, leaving farmers exhausted. The floods have also stopped the transportation of wheat…