TX - Hottest June Ever, Hottest 9 Months On Record; Cattle Dying From Overdrinking When Moved

[hatrack]

The unrelenting Texas drought has produced a cruelly ironic twist: cattle dying from too much water. Agriculture officials in parched Texas said Wednesday there are no hard numbers on how many head of cattle have died but reports of deaths from too much water or too little are showing up across the nation's leading cattle production state.

"They over drink because they're thirsty," said Dr. Robert Sprowls of the Texas Veterinary Medical Diagnostic Laboratory in Amarillo. "Once they fill up on water it happens pretty quickly."

Producers are losing cattle after moving them from withered pastures where water tanks have dried up. Once in new pastures, cattle that die take in too much water too quickly. The animals die within minutes and their carcasses are found near the stock tanks from which they were drinking, Ted McCollum, a beef cattle specialist with Texas AgriLife Extension Service in Amarillo, said.

Texas is coming off its driest nine-month period ever and its hottest June on record. More than 90 percent of the state is in the two most severe drought stages. The cattle deaths are occurring earlier, in part because of lack of forage growth in pastures.

"We are seeing more incidents of heat stress in cattle," he said. "More incidents of death and problems with health." As with humans, water intoxication can occur when there's too much water in the body, which disrupts electrolyte balance in cells. Death can occur. Typically an average cow grazing green forage consumes as much as 8.4 gallons of water a day from it. This year, because drought precluded forage growth and there's been a relatively low intake of dry forage, daily water consumption is around 0.6 gallons.

EDIT

http://www.businessweek.com/ap/financialnews/D9OFE3A03.htm

[WhiteTara]

1. that's scary. thanks for posting

That's a huge difference...8.4 gallons of water to .6 gallons of water in just a few months.

[givemebackmycountry]

2. Don't worry. It will be OK come August.

Because Gov. Rick Perry and all of his friends, will be gathering in Reliant Stadium in Houston to PRAY.
And we ALL know how well that works.

The GOOD GODLY (insert faith here that will PISS people off) will make a BIG deal about how EVIL teh GAY are and GOD will be pleased.
And all will be well.

:sarcasm:

(not really)

[classysassy]

3. "There are stranger happenings going on"

the red states are ablaze.Texas,Arizona,Nississippi,Alabama,Florida,Georgia,South Carolina,is the devil paying his friends a visit?.

[Terry in Austin]

4. Hell and Texas

"If I owned Hell and Texas I would rent out Texas and live in Hell."

- Civil War general Phillip Henry Sheridan