Keeping your livestock at a comfortable temp is of the upmost importance when transporting them.
When livestock get too hot, they can experience heat stress, which can have serious consequences:
- Reduced fertility: Heat stress can reduce fertility in livestock.
- Increased disease susceptibility: Heat stress can make livestock more susceptible to disease.
- Death: In severe cases, heat stress can lead to death.
- Other effects: Heat stress can also cause increased respiration rate, increased water intake, loss of appetite, listlessness or lethargy, increased salivation, and in severe cases, unconsciousness
When livestock get too cold, they can experience a range of health issues, including:
- Hypothermia - A drop in body temperature that can lead to slowed metabolic and physiological processes, frostbite, and death. Signs of hypothermia include erratic behavior, confusion, and a clumsy gait.
- Cold damage - wet or damp extremities can be especially susceptible to frostbite and freezing, which can damage or cause livestock to lose their ears and tails. Male livestock can also suffer cold damage to their reproductive organs, which can impair their fertility.
- Cold stress - When a livestock animal's natural metabolic process and coat are no longer enough to keep them warm, their core body temperature drops. Signs of cold stress include shivering, reduced feed intake, and lethargy. Cold stress can lead to weight loss, loss of milk production, and decreased reproductive performance
This Winter Blok Out Plugs for a Wilson Gooseneck Livestock trailer will help regulate temps. They are pretty simple to install. First you have to install them from the inside of the trailer with the smooth side facing in the trailer with the rough side showing on the outside of the trailer to prevent noses and hooves from pushing them out. You can clip them in by using a screw driver or I found that they go in a lot better when you let them sit in hot water for 15 mins to get them pliable and then they pop right in.