by Beth Mercer
I’ve lost count of the number of days, or maybe months at this point, with temperatures over 100 degrees. The days start off at about 80 degrees and move up quickly. No rain has fallen for months and we can’t even get a heavy dew. You sweat through your clothes by 9:00 a.m. and learn to live with it until supper. Dust covers everything. It’s a good day when the wind blows. It’s a bad one when it doesn’t because you can barely breath. You get the picture. Historically high temperatures and dry conditions have become the norm and there is no change in sight for Texas and other parts of the country.
Our Simbrah cattle, on the other hand, seem to be taking the high temperatures and drought in stride. They graze on and off all day and I’ve yet to catch any of them breathing hard due to the heat. Their calves aren’t suffering from lack of milk and the bulls kept up their work pace during the breeding season without falling apart. In other words, Simbrah cattle with as little as 1/8 Brahman blood are bred to adapt to these adverse conditions.
One characteristic of heat tolerant cattle is their ability to shed their winter coat in spring and summer. As a general rule, Simbrah are slick haired with many staying slick all winter. They have a little more hide surface area or extra leather that also keeps them cooler.
With lush grass a distant memory on most ranches, Brahman influenced Simbrah cattle browse and make a meal out of whatever is available. Biting flies and ticks don’t seem to slow them down and even in this heat, the females breed back while nursing a calf. The heat tolerance of Simbrah contributes to the success of feeding steers in the summer months as they continue to gain and tolerate the high temperatures in the feedlot.
The ability of cattle to adapt to the environment in which they live is of the utmost importance for any cattle operation to have a chance to be successful. Simbrah cattle thrive in many environments but their true worth comes when the temperatures are high and the grass becomes scarce.
Printed courtesy of the Register
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