Cool cows need shade and water

Providing livestock with shade and water during extreme heat is ‘‘paramount’’ according to an owner of a northern Victorian veterinary practice.

Shade and water are paramount when temperatures
 rise to help stock avoid heat stress.

Keith Fletcher, of Rochester Veterinary Practice, provided some tips on the best way to handle livestock to prevent heat stress.

‘‘A combination of shade and water is the most important thing,’’ Dr Fletcher said.

‘‘For beef cattle, farmers should select the paddocks so they will have shade during the day and put them in open paddocks at night when they are less likely to get overheated.

‘‘For dairy cows, sprinklers in yards and sheds and in some cases fans can work.

‘‘Also watering concrete before they stand on it (is an option).’’

For other livestock, such as sheep, Dr Fletcher said the same protocols should be taken.

‘‘It holds true for all them — shade and water. Sheep are a bit more resistant to heat but still need to get out of direct contact with the sun.’’

Dr Fletcher said farmers should avoid moving livestock during the hottest part of the days.

‘‘Avoid management jobs like yarding in hottest parts of the day,’’ he said.

‘‘Certainly, the cattle are feeling the heat but I haven’t had to handle any cases (yet).

‘‘The dairy cows are not producing as much milk and the beef cattle are going slowly and not putting on a lot of weight.’’

Story from Country News in The Shepparton News - “Cool cows need shade and water.”

Arctic Methane Leaks Go Undetected Because Equipment Can’t Handle the Cold

The most widely-used technology for detecting methane leaks from oil and gas operations does not work reliably in extremely cold weather—like on Alaska's North Slope, according to recent research and the industry's own reports.

Infrared cameras are critical for detecting methane leaks in oil and gas
facilities, but they struggle in cold temperatures. Here, an infrared
camera reveals a giant methane leak from Aliso Canyon in California.
The gas appears as a rising yellow plume beyond the hills. 

When the weather hits the extreme lows common around Prudhoe Bay, when the winds whip and the sun dips below the horizon for a few months, the infrared technology required to look for methane leaks isn't always able to find them.

"A lot of the equipment just doesn't function well at -40 or -50," said James Plosay, who manages the air permits program for the Alaska Department of Environmental Conservation's Division of Air Quality.

Read the Inside Climate News story by Sabrina Shankman - “Arctic Methane Leaks Go Undetected Because Equipment Can’t Handle the Cold.”

Hunter Valley's Bylong River could 'dry up' as department ignores advice of NSW Water Office

A large foreign-owned mine planned for prime agricultural land in the NSW Hunter Valley could cause the Bylong River and local creeks to "dry up", according to an assessment by the NSW Water Office obtained under freedom of information laws.

The Bylong Valley is an area of the Hunter yet to be mined.

A series of stark warnings from government water experts, including that the mine would salinate the aquifer beyond limits of current policy for at least a century, appear to have either not been communicated to the Department of Planning and Environment, or ignored by it, because the project has been recommended to proceed.

The documents were requested under NSW FOI laws by a company owned by the family of disgraced former Labor power-broker Eddie Obeid, but made their way to anti-coal group Lock The Gate.

Read the story by Michael Slezak from ABC News - “Hunter Valley's Bylong River could 'dry up' as department ignores advice of NSW Water Office.”