Getting Through Cold Spells Can be Stressful for Livestock

A combination of cold air and winds create dangerous conditions. Here’s how to protect your horses and other animals.
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After a few weeks of above-average temperatures, Kentuckians will feel the chill with a cold snap.

University of Kentucky (UK) agricultural meteorologist Matt Dixon explained that the combination of cold air and winds create dangerous and emergency-category periods of livestock cold stress.

Livestock producers should make sure animals have adequate shelter, water, dry bedding, and plenty of feed to make it through cold spells. Pet owners should bring pets indoors. Livestock specialists at UK say animals have a higher requirement for energy in the colder months, so producers should have high-quality grains and forages on hand to meet their needs.

“The average horse, with a lower activity level, should eat between 1.5 and 2% of its body weight in feed per day to maintain its weight,” said Bob Coleman, PhD, PAS, equine extension specialist in the UK College of Agriculture, Food, and Environment. “That feed requirement goes up in the winter as the horse uses more calories to keep warm

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