Ranchers battle heat to keep livestock safe, healthy

TYLER, Texas (KLTV) - The Texas and Southwestern Cattle Ranchers Association gathered in Tyler to discuss ranching issues around the state, with one of the must urgent being this Summer’s sweltering heat.

“Well, obviously heat takes a toll on cattle. I will tell you, though, that cattle raisers are probably better with their cattle than they are their kids, take better care of ‘em”

This summer heat can be a problem for ranchers trying to take care of their cattle but they are taking action.

“We go through a lot of measures, a lot of shade, plenty of water; we take care of these cattle, a lot of people bring them in their barn, provide fans for them. They are pretty resilient animals.”

We headed to Scott Herod’s ranch just outside Tyler to see what he’s doing amid this heat wave to make sure his cattle are taken care of.

“A lot of people in town may think we’ve had a wet summer, but in actuality our rain has come in large increments and we’ve had these very dry conditions, higher humidity than normal, so our soils are drying out”

Herod says despite all the green we see, conditions are very dry.

“Like on Sunday in Tyler, the concrete area we call it, the city loop got an hour of rain, we got zero. There’s a lot of people in town in those areas thinking we’re having a wet summer, but in actuality, we’re dry and we’re dealing with humidity like we haven’t before.”

Humidity raises the heat index, and that can be dangerous for cattle.

“The heat Index is more of a true storyteller of what our cattle, our livestock, are experiencing.”

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