How to keep livestock and poultry cool

(Baonghean.vn) -In the summer, the weather is hot and sunny, with temperatures often rising to 36 - 38 degrees Celsius, which is detrimental to livestock farming, especially concentrated, high-density farming.Specifically, livestock have reduced resistance, many diseases are at risk of outbreak.

In addition to the risk of disease outbreaks due to hot weather, poor appetite and a strong decline in resistance also reduce meat and egg productivity of livestock and poultry. Diseases such as diarrhea, heatstroke, sunstroke, Ecoli, paratyphoid, pneumonia, cholera, septicemia, coccidiosis, etc. are likely to arise and spread, causing great economic losses to livestock farmers.

To minimize damage caused by heat, farmers need to pay attention to implementing the following measures.

For pigs

- Barn: Should face southeast, roofed with tiles or palm leaves; plant trees around to create shade.

Ventilation fan: Ventilation fan should be placed horizontally, fan in the direction of wind blowing, fan height should be at the same level as the back of the livestock; if the fan is hung from the roof blowing air down, the heat-proofing effect will be low.

Rain and humidification: When spraying rain, it is necessary to pay attention to increasing ventilation and drainage around to avoid increasing humidity in the barn.

- Reduce the temperature of the barn by cleaning the barn regularly; collect manure in the manure pit (to reduce the heat caused by rising manure).

- Pigs need to be bathed 1-2 times/day; given enough clean, cool water, supplemented with Bcomplex, Vitamin C, electrolytes, digestive enzymes... to cool down and increase resistance.

- Implement biosecurity measures in livestock farming, periodically disinfect barns and livestock areas.

For buffalo, cow, goat

- Trees should be planted around the barn to create shade. The barn should have a sunshade. Reduce the temperature of the barn by cleaning the barn, collecting manure, and composting.

- Grazing early in the morning or late in the afternoon: In the morning, let the buffaloes and cows graze early (6am, return at 8am); in the afternoon, let them graze late (4am, return at 6am); should tie the buffaloes and cows in places with shady trees for them to rest.

- Stocking density for beef cattle: 5 - 6 m2/head, goats 1.8 - 2 m2/head.

- Give them enough clean, cool water to drink, supplement with Vitamin C to cool down; feed them enough 30 - 35 kg of green roughage, 0.5 - 1 kg of concentrated food, 20 - 30 grams of salt to ensure health, increase resistance to heat and disease.

- You should bathe buffaloes and cows 1-2 times/day to reduce body heat.

For poultry

- Closed barn: Due to the cooling system, when running at maximum capacity according to the design, the barn temperature can be reduced by 5 - 7 degrees Celsius compared to the outside temperature, so poultry is less affected by the environmental temperature. Pay attention to the backup power supply system.

- Airy barn: Should have a sunshade around it, on hot days you can spray water on the barn roof to reduce the heat; use black nets or plant trees, climbing plants to cover the roof and direct sunlight.

- Feed the chickens early, after eating hang the feeder up to ventilate the coop to reduce the coop temperature.

- Reduce the thickness of the pad (if it is too thick because the pad generates a lot of heat).

- Reducing stocking density also helps reduce the temperature of the barn: For chicks: brood 50 - 60 chicks/m2; for 0.5 - 1 kg chickens: confine 8 - 12 chicks/m2; for 2 - 3 kg chickens: confine 3 - 5 chicks/m2.

- Increase the resistance of poultry by giving them Bcomplex, Vitamin C, electrolytes, digestive enzymes... feed them good quality bran, prevent poultry diseases with vaccines: Newcastle, influenza, duck cholera, pasteurellosis... to increase immunity against dangerous diseases.

When detecting abnormal signs in animals (due to sunstroke, heatstroke, or high density transport), cooling measures must be immediately applied to limit risks, by separating the animal to a shady place, creating ventilation in the confinement area, and immediately using a cooling fan system.

For cows and sows, you can use ice to cool the head and face area, and give the animal electrolyte water to drink. Only when it is stable can the animal be brought back to the herd.

Farmers need to implement the above cooling measures synchronously to ensure the health of livestock and poultry during hot days.

Ngoc Anh

(Synthetic)