Anna Kobza, Ph.D.

08/01/2026

July joys

07/30/2026

Downloaded iNaturalist and now I cannot be stopped. Although they do need to work on their Sandhills grass identification.

07/09/2026

07/06/2026

The best approach to managing heat stress, is to do your best to prevent it, instead of trying to manage it when it’s happening. Eliminating all heat stress is not possible, but we can do our best to reduce it in the feedlot.

Take into account all players in your environment: wind, temp, humidity. This will ultimately help you make the best decisions on what tools & management strategies to utilize for heat stress.

WATER
Obvious, but incredibly important. Make sure cattle have enough water, and that automatic tanks flow faster to account for increased water Intake. Adding water tanks to pens can help increase access to water as well.

SHADE
The important thing with shade is to make sure pens are not overcrowded so cattle do not flock too tightly under the shade. Keep it high enough (7to 14 ft) for optimal air movement beneath it.

SPRINKLERS
Before using sprinklers, give the cattle time to adjust to them. The sound, the sight, the feeling. Do this over several days. Don’t just spring it on them. You can decrease the animals core temperature and the temperature of the dirt surface with sprinklers. Sprinklers should put out large droplets in order to soak the animal to the skin. They should be turned on for short period of time, then allowed to dry before turning on again. Use early in the morning or at night to cool them before the heat of the day. BUT, in areas with high humidity and no air flow, sprinklers may cause more harm than good, as any moisture adds to the humidity.

HANDLING
Limit processing in heat extremes. But if you must, work cattle in smaller bunches so they spend less time in holding pens. Work them early in the morning and work them slow. Reduce the distance heavy cattle need to travel if shipping by moving them closer to load outs before a heat event. Do not work cattle in the evening. They need the cool evening hours to release their heat load. They won’t be able to do this effectively if stressed by handling.

FEEDING
Opt for offering majority of feed after peak daily heat. This way heat produced from digestion will occur during the cooler part of the day. And cattle will spend less time eating and moving during the heat of the day.

06/30/2026

Plus a Monte montage at the end. Dude had some prime photos this month.

06/25/2026

This was such a fun afternoon!

06/24/2026

Graphs are a great way to visualize how cattle are doing overtime and see patterns you may have missed if you didn’t have a way to visualize data. I love a good graph!