did anyone see the post about 1400+ cows dying of the heat yesterday

[donsu]

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_topic&forum=115&topic_id=61385

that's a lot of cows and a lot of money lost to the farmers.

are cows dying in the midwest too?

and England is having temps in the 90s and their cows sure aren't used to that. are they dying too?

this is really bad news.

[jarnocan]

1. ominous signs are all around US now

but aren't you just thrilled that Bush is entertaining / being entertained by the American Idol peeps at the Whitehouse?

[MuseRider]

2. I have not heard

of any dying around here from the heat but they may have last week when temps topped 110 in a lot of areas and are now getting right back up to the 100's in a lot of the area. I do know that many of them have been moved to feed lots because the pasture is gone because of drought and heat. If I hear of any I will post the info.

[donsu]

3. and stressed out cows won't give as much milk so does that mean

the bushmilhousegang will unload the stored dried/curded milk and reconstitute it and sell it as fresh milk. shouldn't the reconstituted milk be labeled that way and sold cheaper then fresh milk?

[Robbien]

4. North Dakota is having problems

NORTH DAKOTA DROUGHT: Dairy farmers fight to save their herds
http://www.grandforks.com/mld/grandforks/business/15078642.htm
Newborn calfs cannot stand the heat and many are dead.

and over in the UK
Meanwhile 15,000 chickens cooped in sheds were roasted ALIVE. It is thought bosses at Grampian Chickens failed to arrange for the buildings to be cooled at Port Lethen, Aberdeenshire.

At Monk Park Farm, North Yorks, pot-bellied pigs were put under showers to save their bacon.

In Dorset, herd of cows driven mad by the heat TRAMPLED jogger Pete Roper, 41, who ended up in hospital.
http://www.thesun.co.uk/article/0,,2-2006330465,00.html

[slaveplanet]

6. Oh my

could you image the smell of those chickens? I feel sorry for the guy who has to clean that up...and the chickens of course.

I wonder when animal cruelty/neglect charges will be filed?

[opihimoimoi]

5. The farmers were too cheap to make some shade for them???

Damn...they had cut down all the trees?

so sad....

[jwirr]

7. LOL. Do you have any idea how many trees it would take to shade

1400 cows? Animals die when there is a sharp sudden rise in temps or extremely high temps. Areas like Texas, Montana, the Dakota's,New Mexico, Nevada, Utah and Oklahoma and other hot states raise the cattle on what is naturally pretty sparse land. This is to be expected as temperatures rise with global warming.

[cboy4]

17. Darn you, I was trying to get opihimoimoi to explain his/her,

shall we say "interesting" comment, that a farmer would risk losing hundreds of thousands of dollars worth of cattle by chopping down all of the trees!! ;)

[TX-RAT]

23. Been raising cows for 25 years

Been raising cows in West TX for over 25 years now and I've never lost one to heat or cold. I've lost them to illness, birthing, predators, accidents, but never to heat/cold. I suspect theirs are in open pens, with no shade. Mine are pasture raised, with limited trees and plenty of water.

[cboy4]

28. You have to keep things in prospective. This is a heat wave of historic

proportions.

This will be the 11th consecutive day with temperatures over 100 degrees.

In the locations where cattle is dying, it's been getting up to 115.

This is way abnormal.
===================

Johan Bartelink, owner of Bartelink Dairy in Escalon, said he figures he's losing $90,000 a month, including fallen cattle (he sent four carcasses to a rendering plant Tuesday morning); heat-stress reduction in milk production to 3,700 gallons a day, down from 5,700 gallons a day; and other factors, such as cow weight loss and milkers that simply stop lactating and won't get back into production for at least nine months - the gestation period for a cow - to a year.

"I've been over 40 years in the business. This is the worst thing I've ever seen so far," he said

http://www.recordnet.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20060726/NEWS01/607260317/1001

[opihimoimoi]

30. 10 cows to a to a tree..140 trees with misting implemented and functioning

est cost 500 bucks per tree = $70,000 and add misting system...est $30,000 total 100,000 buck$

Think for the worst and solve...(them farmers, bless them, I am one in the business,) sometimes think too cheap. Mother Nature comes around with Mrs Murphy once in awhile and a crash occurs...

Happened to me a few times....I learn in the process.

[cboy4]

9. I'm sorry...I must have overlooked the information about how they

cut down all of the trees.

Would you be kind enough to tell me where you read that?

Thanks!

[BrotherBuzz]

14. These milk cows are in the shade

They live in barns and sheds with extensive fan and misting systems that work during the normal heat they expect in the valley. This heat wave is really strong and long because the temperatures haven't been dropping during the night to give the girls a breather.

The dry cows in the field are doing OK, although they tend to stand in the irrigation canals all day.

My large animal vet neighbor cut his vacation and has been out in the field for days. I'm interested in hearing his stories of the battle in the trenches when he returns.

[wicket]

29. WTF are you talking about??!!

:grr:

[opihimoimoi]

31. Protection of the INVESTMENT...shade for animals with cooling systems is

insurance against Crashes due to abnormal heat. Dats all.

[wicket]

45. I just didn't see anything in there about them cutting down trees

I grew up on a dairy farm, albeit a very small one that milks 40, and we'd never in our wildest nightmares think of doing something like that to our animals. They are like members of the family.

[HiFructosePronSyrup]

46. Really? Sounds like a strange dairy to me.

Most dairies I know, even the small family operated ones, treat their livestock as an investment and avoid any sentimental attachment. For obvious reasons.

[wicket]

47. Ever been to Vermont?

:) We even name all the cows. Guess we do things a little differently up there.

[HiFructosePronSyrup]

50. No, never been.

Naming the farm aminals sounds like begging for heartache to me.

[wicket]

51. Sometimes, but the milkers are with us for a long time

Raising them for beef would be another story.

[HiFructosePronSyrup]

54. What about the calves?

You don't sell them for veal?

[jilln]

8. a lot of money lost to the farmers???

How about a lot of animal tortured to death?

As long as people, and especially farmers, think animals are products, this will keep happening. Factory farms are hell on earth as it is. It doesn't take much to make it even worse.

www.wegmanscruelty.com

[donsu]

11. sorry to mislead - I'm on the side of animals first and foremost

stopped eating chicken many years ago because of the terrible conditions they were raised in and the terrible working conditions of the usually women working in the slaughter sheds

as an example

[Silver Swan]

10. Happy cows are NOT from California

My cousin is a Michigan dairy farmer, but I haven't heard of heat related cow deaths in the Midwest.

I guess those ads about "happy California cows" are not quite true.

[HiFructosePronSyrup]

13. Oh, I don't know.

Have you seen the inside of a modern dairy? They're pretty neat. I'd love to be there if I were a cow.

[cboy4]

25. Oh yea? Well how long does to take your midwest cows to grab their

surfboards and head to the beach for a little R&R.

I think Midwest cows are forced to literally stand around all day and watch the grass grow.

If I were a cow, I know that would make me happy. :sarcasm:

:rofl:

[Cha]

12. And the heat related deaths

aren't all cows..

"And heat-related ag problems go beyond the dairy industry.

County officials said poultry losses are at 1 million pounds, with hundreds of thousands of chickens and turkeys dead.

The poultry industry generated $161.5 million in revenue in 2005 with 207 million birds. Turkeys represent a $38 million industry with 12 million birds."

[lonestarnot]

15. Are problems increase daily.

[datadiva]

16. Also, 1,000,000,000 lbs of chickens and turkeys

so far in California. The rendering plants can't keep up with the cows. They are using backhoes and bobcats and just covering up the dead chickens and turkeys. 56 people have died here. I don't know if I can take another day of this. I am in an office with only a little air conditioner in a metal building. I am 61 years old and my air conditioning in my car is out. I went home last night and jumped in the shower. I was garbeling my speech a couple of hours later. If it gets that bad again today and it's supposed to be 110 here in Stockton, I am just going home.

[lonestarnot]

18. Be safe! Only you know what your body is feeling. Don't

allow them to kill you! :mad:

[donsu]

21. good grief! take care of yourself - wishing you well

nt

[karlrschneider]

26. Oh, my...be CAREFUL! Garbled speech is one symptom of heat stroke

and that -can- be life-threatening!!!

[datadiva]

33. Thanks you guys,

I'll be fine. If it gets too hot, I'm outta here! The speech scared me to death. I will not take that chance again for a couple of hours pay. No Way.

[Lone_Star_Dem]

44. Be sure and take plenty of fluids and avoid exertion

Don't be afraid to put your health first.

[wicket]

48. Please be careful!!!!

We love you and don't want anything to happen to you!!! :hug:

[HiFructosePronSyrup]

49. Same thing happened to me.

It must have been 104 and spent too much time outdoors. No air-conditioning indoors either so I figure I better hop in the shower and cool off.

The shower kept getting hotter and I couldn't figure out why. Turns out I had confused the hot water dial with the cold, and kept adjusting it the wrong way.

Stay safe.

[BringEmOn]

19. That's an udder disaster!

[donsu]

22. not funny

nt

[HiFructosePronSyrup]

32. What's your beef?

:hide:

[cboy4]

35. You know what? I saw a farmer in tears on television talking about how

this record heat wave could wipe him out.

He and his wife might lose the farm and everything they've worked so hard for.

I know a couple of farmers who are just worried sick right now.

Perhaps you thought Hurricane Katrina was hilarious also.....I don't know you or your sense of humor.

And while it's your right to laugh, I find it really appalling to mock this emergency situation here in California.

People are suffering.

[HiFructosePronSyrup]

36. I hope he's got a good lawyer.

He should milk his insurance company for all they're worth.

[sleipnir]

37. Wow, three puns in a subthread.

Yes, this is a complete tragedy, but three puns, and most seem to go by unnoticed.

I do enjoy a good pun.

FYI, losing cattle due to the heat is comparable to a grocery store owner who loses all their food because of a heat blackout. Neither one's insurance covers that loss. Both are screwed.

[HiFructosePronSyrup]

39. That's a shame.

Perhaps we should moove on?

[cboy4]

38. Always good to hear from an uneducated attention-seeker, teetering on

the tightrope of your fragile mental stability.

Best of luck with your illness.

[HiFructosePronSyrup]

41. "teetering"

Good one!

[cboy4]

42. Whatever you say....just don't shoot anyone. We're all your friends.

:scared:

[HiFructosePronSyrup]

43. Don't shoot any one?

I'll have to ruminate on that.

[RebelOne]

34. My feelings exactly. Deaths are nothing to joke about.

[lonestarnot]

20. Are cows the new parakeet?

[donsu]

24. no, just the happenings the canaries warned us about

nt

[lonestarnot]

27. oh yeah canaries. Cows the new canary?

[MissB]

40. 35 greyhounds died this weekend.

The air conditioner in the kennel stopped working.

[lonestarnot]

53. Son-of-a-bitch! wasn't somebody monitoring? This should be a

crime! What about ice and cold water swimming pools, baths? Something could have been done.

[MissB]

56. The owners of the kennel went away for the weekend.

They checked the building before they left - the air conditioning was working. Six hours later, the employee left in charge went to feed them and discovered the air conditioning was out.

The owners are publicly stating their horror and sorrow- these dogs were like family. The authorities aren't planning any further investigation.

[lonestarnot]

57. Didn't the person left in charge have a clue that the power

had gone out?

[MissB]

58. The power didn't go out- the air conditioning system broke.

Poor damned dogs.

[lonestarnot]

59. Oh shit, broke... poor things. Terrible.

[kineneb]

52. prolonged heat kills

both humans and non-human animals (we'z all an-umals, folks). I feel sorry for those who have lost livestock. Not only is it a monetary loss, but the ranchers really do care about their charges. Who would want to see a poor creature die from overheating?

Given the choice, the (non-human) animals would join us in the air conditioning. My pet chicken is in the house most of the day, sensibly sitting in front of the AC register, with a beatific look on her face. She thinks being out in over 100 deg. heat is silly when one is clothed permanently in a down coat.

[conflictgirl]

55. Good thing global warming doesn't exist.

:sarcasm: