Heat wave puts new stress on Minnesota’s livestock producers
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Trying to keep a layer facility cool has a distinct sound: 72 fans running nonstop.
“We're in a stretch right now that is very warm, so we're taking measures to prevent any further death loss,” said Allan Baer, co-owner of Highlevel Egg in Lake Park.
Baer said he’s handled hot summers before, but this season he’s seen a higher-than-normal number of days break 90 degrees.
Nighttime heat can be especially disruptive to his chickens, he added.
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“At night when the chickens go to sleep, if it cools down, it's a lot more comfortable,” he said. “But when we have temperatures above 70 degrees at night, the chickens are uncomfortable.”
Baer said that heat-stressed chickens lay smaller, less valuable eggs. To try and prevent that, Baer has the fans going constantly, and he’s also changed the chickens’ feeding routine — eating too late can make them overheat at night.
However, all of these changes are costing Baer money at a difficult time. Egg prices have fallen significantly from last year, which is already affecting his bottom line.
“I'm losing money every day, a lot of money every day,” he said. “And I think it'll go on for a year and a half, two years.”
Watching over animals and humans in the heat
Robert Roelofs is also concerned about his animals.
He’s a pork producer in Garden City in southern Minnesota, near Mankato. When the temperature is in the 90s, as it is now, he said his pigs don’t eat much.
“They just eat enough feed to maintain, to make them feel OK and drink a lot of water,” he said.
“It's kind of just like us,” he added. “If we're hot, we're not going to want to eat a whole steak and a full pan of pasta. We're not going to want to do that when we're hot, either.”
And less eating means less growth, which can make them less valuable.
“If the pigs aren't gaining weight for a couple of days because of a slowdown in feed consumption, that can hurt our bottom line,” said Roelofs. “It's not too drastic, but it's there.”
He also expects his costs to go up, not just from the electricity used for running fans, but from labor as well.
Roelofs said he gives his workers flexible breaks so they don’t overheat in the summer. Ultimately, he said that helps reduce lapses in biosecurity measures, such as changing into separate clothes and shoes when going in and out of a facility, which helps keep germs out.
“We want to make sure that everybody who's working with us has got their head on a swivel when it comes to the biosecurity,” said Roelofs. “We don't want to get another bug like the flu onto the farm or something like that just because we were tired because of the heat.”
Roelofs said problems arise if, say, a worker goes outside to get water and then comes back in without changing their boots.
Wildfire smoke may spread
Heat may not be the only issue farmers contend with this week.
Forecasts show that the smoke could reach parts of central Minnesota. The Minnesota Pollution Control Agency on Tuesday expanded its air quality alert through Friday morning across much of central Minnesota and into the southeast due to wildfire smoke from northern Minnesota.
Matthew Pfarr, a University of Minnesota Extension educator based in Mankato, said he’s been paying attention to the smoke blowing from the wildfires.
“With the heat and the smoke. There's going to be more respiratory distress, and there's going to be more need for ventilation,” he said.
Pfarr said it will be important for farmers to pay special attention to younger and older livestock “that would tend to be more sensitive to pollutants in the air.”
Beyond caring for their animals, Pfarr said farmers and workers need to take care of themselves, too. That means taking breaks and hydrating often.
