Managing Heat Stress in Feedlot Operations This Summer

High ambient temperatures and humidity create physiological stress in beef cattle that manifests well before animals begin showing obvious signs of distress. Core body temperature rises as the animal struggles to dissipate heat, feed intake drops, and immune function is compromised — creating conditions where secondary disease challenges become significantly more dangerous.

The Heat Load Problem

Cattle are more sensitive to heat than many producers realize. The temperature-humidity index (THI) provides a better measure of heat load than air temperature alone. At a THI above 72, performance begins to decline. Above 84, health risks escalate. In feedlot conditions, where high-energy diets generate substantial metabolic heat and pen density limits airflow, animals reach dangerous thresholds faster than they would on pasture.

Time-of-Day Dynamics

Heat load in cattle is cumulative. Animals that fail to fully recover overnight carry elevated core temperatures into the following day, compounding the effect of the next heat cycle. Identifying animals that are not recovering during cooler overnight hours is one of the most actionable uses of continuous temperature data.

Monitoring as an Early Warning System

An ear tag that transmits temperature every hour during elevated readings provides a real-time picture of heat load across the pen. When multiple animals in the same pen begin trending upward simultaneously, that data can trigger an intervention — increased water access, misting systems, feed timing adjustments — before the situation becomes critical.

Practical Steps

Producers in high-heat regions should ensure water availability is maximized during hot periods, feeding times are shifted toward cooler parts of the day, and shade structures are properly positioned. Monitoring data makes it easier to evaluate whether these interventions are working at the individual animal level, not just the pen level.