Wednesday, 13 October 2021 12:00

Feeling the heat

Written by Milking It

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US dairy farmers have a new threat to their business - heat waves.

The industry is bracing for one factor that could push production costs higher - rising temperatures.

US researchers have found that when temperatures spike, dairy cows may respond by producing less milk, the PBS NewsHour programme reported.

And with emissions threatening to make heat waves worse and lengthen warm seasons, that could mean less milk production from cows across the country.

With most of those cows housed indoors, farmers will need to run more electric fans to keep cows cool, further pushing up production costs.

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