Reducing the Risk of Heat Load for the Australian Feedlot Industry

Summary

This project was undertaken to reduce the risk of high heat load events occurring at Australian feedlots in the future. The industry has taken a proactive approach to the heat load issue to prevent the production losses, animal welfare issues and bad media publicity that is associated with such events. The purpose of this project was to refine the Heat Load Index and produce a risk assessment tool to be used in the Australian feedlot industry.

The new Heat Load Index and Accumulated Heat Load Units measures give Australian feedlot operators a more accurate reflection of the climatic heat load their cattle are exposed to at a particular point in time. Use of these measures will allow feedlot operators to better manage climatic heat load and instigate strategies to prevent the occurrence of high heat load events. A Risk Assessment Program (RAP) that can be used by feedlot operators to quantify the risk of high heat load events occurring at their specific feedlot, or pens within their feedlot, has also been produced as part of this project. This will allow feedlot operators to identify specific pens within their feedlot that are at risk, and to implement mitigation strategies that can be used to reduce that risk.