News Talk 94.1/AM 1600 Where The Upper Cumberland Talks
Fluctuating temperatures in the Upper Cumberland this winter could potentially impact livestock in the region.
Putnam County Agriculture Extension Agent Wayne Keys says animals prepared for winter weather may not be ready for surprise spring-like temperatures midway through the season.
“When you’ve got cows, horses, sheep, goats, livestock that are standing in mud and wet weather,” Keys says, “it’s 60 degrees one day, then we get a lot of rainfall, their hair coats gets wet and it gets cold. It’s just hard on those livestock animals during this time of year with temperature spikes.”
Temperatures in the Upper Cumberland reached 65 degrees in some areas earlier this week, but the National Weather Service predicts overnight low temperatures to reach the low 20s over the next week.
Keys says the sudden temperature drops could impact the health of the livestock as well.
“[The animals] don’t know how to regulate body temperature. It’s hard to know what to do,” Keys says. “They’ve got a thick winter coat, so when it gets warm they get hot easily. Then once they get used to those temperatures for two or three days, it gets cold and we have cattle that could possibly get sick. We’ve got respiratory diseases possibly during that fluctuation. That’s the biggest effect right now with weather fluctuating is on livestock.”
Keys says not much can be done to try and prevent fluctuating temperatures from affecting livestock.
“When it is cold, providing plenty of hay and plenty of supplement grain for those animals and making sure they’re getting plenty of nutrition will help keep their body temperature up and help keep them warm during cold weather,” Keys says. “If they have pasture or places they can rotate and graze on, when it’s 60 degrees and they don’t prefer the hay, then that’s certainly an option as well.”
Despite the sudden rise in temperatures this week, the National Weather Service predicts relatively steady, yet cooler and wetter weather through Jan. 15 for the Upper Cumberland.
