According to the authorities, associations and local veterinarians, high temperatures, but also very weak winds and very high humidity are responsible for the deaths of several thousand animals on various farms in the south-west of the state.
A video showing a long line of dead black cattle lining the roadside has been shared on social media since the beginning of the week. It is accompanied by messages reporting the deaths of thousands of animals in Southwest Kansas attributed to an intense heat wave.
🚨#BREAK: Thousands of cattle died in Kansas from dangerous heat ⁰
📌#Kansas | #UNITED STATES OF AMERICAMore than 20 states are seeing dangerously hot temperatures affecting nearly 100 million Americans as reports of thousands of cattle in Kansas have died due to dangerous temperatures pic.twitter.com/d7saHEgMrU
— RAWSALERTS (@rawsalerts) June 16, 2022
The sequence arouses great dismay, but also skepticism: Can a heat wave kill so many animals in such a short time on a single farm? For many Internet users, “it’s bound to be something else.” Alternative theories range from water intoxication to the use of secret weapons — one Trumpist blog recognizes the hand here of “the illegitimate Biden regime,” which would try to “create national unrest ahead of the midterm elections to justify a declaration of war by law or other national emergency.” ‘ through ‘destroying the food supply chain’.)
However, local breeder associations and regional authorities confirm that several thousand cows died in Kansas this week due to a major heat wave.
However, no official comment provides information to better understand the context in which the viral video was shot. However, local broadcaster KWCH12 says it received confirmation “that the video was taken on a farm in the South West” from a consultant working for farms in the area and that he witnessed similar scenes. It also confirms that “many feedlots in the Ulysses area” are recording heatwave-related deaths.
Polled June 17, the Kansas Department of Health and Environment told CheckNews it was “aware of at least 2,000 cattle deaths in the southwestern state, mostly over the weekend. This number is representative of entities that have approached our agency for assistance with rendering disposal of carcasses.” The ministry thus confirms that this crisis is not affecting just one farm, as some netizens have suggested. One of the hypotheses about the transmitted images could be that the dead animals lined up along the roadside come from several farms and not just one. However, the ministry was not able to provide us with more detailed information at the time of publication.
As KWCH12 notes, while the number of thousands of dead animals is impressive, it should be viewed in the light of the gigantic size of the region’s farms, “some fattening farms number as many as 120,000 cattle”.
“At this point in time, any number communicated would be speculative”
Kansas Livestock Association (KLA) vice president Scarlett Hagins also blamed the heatwave for the deaths in a video posted to social media on Thursday: “We cannot confirm the extent of the casualties and have no numbers at this time.” name would be speculative. This is a very unfortunate event resulting from a significant change in the region’s weather conditions over a short period of time. Temperatures rose significantly, humidity was high, and there was little to no wind. She explains that the livestock could not be evacuated during the hot night as the heat accumulated during the day. “This is not normal for this area, which is usually ideal for raising these cattle.” Questioned by multiple national media outlets, Hagins also confirmed that the southwestern state town of Ulysses was affected by these heatwave-related deaths, particularly related to the high temperatures that could reach as high as 104°F (40°C) .
A University of Kansas veterinarian interviewed by the Associated Press on Thursday confirmed that an “isolated weather event in a specific region of southwestern Kansas” was the cause of death. “Yes the temperatures have gone up but the number one reason it has been harmful [pour les animaux] is that we had a huge increase in humidity while the wind speed decreased significantly — which is rare for western Kansas. It was this sudden change that did not allow the cattle to acclimate.” The connection between these three parameters is also cited by the Kansas Department of Health and Environmental Protection to explain the events.
According to weather records for the city of Ulysses for the past few days, temperatures on Saturday 11 June have ranged from 17°C in the early morning to 39°C in the hottest afternoon, with more than 10 consecutive hours above 30°C. and winds varying between 0 and 15 km/h (except for a brief peak above 20 km/h). At night the humidity was close to 100% (like the day before and the day before). On Sunday 12th, extremes ranged from 21°C to 39°C, with 11 consecutive hours above 30°C and winds similar to Saturday’s. On Monday 13th, temperatures soared from 25°C to 40°C, with seventeen consecutive hours above 30°C (from 7am to midnight) and maximum winds of 35km/h.
Dark Coat
Jess Shearer, a veterinarian who works with local farms, who was interviewed by KWCH12 on Friday, noted that “it’s usually the first few weeks of June that we see these animals being hit by the heat.” She also judges that not only the high temperatures are the cause – higher temperatures were recorded in summer – but above all the humidity from the rain that preceded the heat wave. And to explain that there was no need to theorize a “conspiracy” to explain this rare occurrence. “When all these parameters come together, sometimes it happens,” she said.
The Associated Press, like KWCH12, notes that many cattle “had to shed their winter coats” during this heat wave. Likewise, another parameter is certainly taken into account: the color of the animal’s coat. As confirmed without much surprise by various studies conducted over the past two decades, black-coated cattle are also those whose bodies retain the most heat in the sun and who suffer the most from the effects of the heat wave.
In her exchange with the media, the vice president of the Kansas Breeders’ Association clarified that heat-related deaths in the industry are typically “rare because breeders take precautions, including providing additional drinking water and changing feeding schedules, so that the animals are healthy during the heat season.” Time not digesting heat of the day and using sprinklers to keep them cool.”
In 2011, 4,000 cattle died after a heat wave in Iowa. According to a study published in 2014, the 2003 and 2006 heat waves in France were accompanied by a significant increase in livestock mortality (around +24% and +12% respectively).