Issues of concern to people who live in the west: property rights, water rights, endangered species, livestock grazing, energy production, wilderness and western agriculture. Plus a few items on western history, western literature and the sport of rodeo... Frank DuBois served as the NM Secretary of Agriculture from 1988 to 2003. DuBois is a former legislative assistant to a U.S. Senator, a Deputy Assistant Secretary of Interior, and is the founder of the DuBois Rodeo Scholarship.
Friday, July 15, 2011
Texas Drought Causing Cattle Deaths... From Too Much Water?
It seems like everyone is feeling the heat this summer. Human, canine, feline, or even bovine, we're all at the mercy of high temperatures. In Texas, several cattle are dying due to the drought-like conditions. The hitch is, they're not dying of thirst. In fact, it's quite the opposite. Cattle are dying from too much water. The drought conditions have caused cattle producers to move their herds from pastures where water tanks have dried to new pastures with healthier water supplies. The cattle then gorge themselves on too much water and die within minutes of water intoxication, according to The Associated Press. "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." While over-hydrating can be a problem for cattle, they're also suffering from dehydration. Typically, an average cow consumes as much was 8.4 gallons of water per day through grazing but this year daily water consumption is down to about 0.6 gallons, according to The Associated Press...more
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I'm having the same problem with the catfish, perch and such on my place. When one of the ponds was nearly dried up I got my kids and grandkids over to help me seine the fish to transplant to another pond. As soon as we put them in their new home many of them went belly up. Now I know it must have been water intoxication.
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