{"id":743,"date":"2022-08-05T09:38:00","date_gmt":"2022-08-05T14:38:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/agrilife.org\/sheepandgoat\/?p=743"},"modified":"2026-02-18T15:48:26","modified_gmt":"2026-02-18T21:48:26","slug":"reids-ram-blings-august-2022","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/agrilife.org\/sheepandgoat\/2022\/08\/05\/reids-ram-blings-august-2022\/","title":{"rendered":"Reid’s Ram-blings: August 2022"},"content":{"rendered":"

Dog Days of Summer<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

As I sit to write this article, the actual temperature is 110 degrees Fahrenheit.\u00a0 It is down right uncomfortable for anybody or anything that has to be outside during the heat of the day.\u00a0 Definitely, the \u201cDog Days of Summer.\u201d<\/p>\n

If you read this article regularly, you know that I am a dog enthusiast.\u00a0 Border collies and livestock guardian dogs of varying breeds are what I have personally and most of what we work with at the Research and Extension center.\u00a0 Neither of these breed types were originally selected to endure this type of heat.\u00a0 Black coat color absorbs the most heat and long dense coats are the hardest to thermoregulate in these extreme conditions.<\/p>\n

\"Sheep<\/p>\n

Growing up I always thought that \u201cDog Days of Summer\u201d was a pun on how these animals in particular had to endure the hottest months of the year.\u00a0 But in preparation for this article I did a little research and learned it has nothing to do with Border Collies or big white dogs at all.<\/p>\n

According to the farmers almanac, the hottest part of the summer coincides with the time of the year that the star \u201cSirius\u201d rises and sets with the Sun.\u00a0 Sirius is part of the constellation Canis Major, the Greater Dog.\u00a0 Ancient Romans believed that Sirius was responsible for the added heat, when in reality it has to with the length of time the Earth is exposed to direct sunlight.<\/p>\n

Heat stress can have a big effect on the health and productivity of sheep and goats.\u00a0 I conducted a heat stress research project during my masters program in New Mexico.\u00a0 During the summer it routinely reached 110 degrees throughout July and August.\u00a0 We tried to measure the impact of embryonic survival when sheep were bred during these hot periods.\u00a0 Unfortunately, the research project failed to identify any measurable difference in embryonic loss compared to traditional fall breeding.\u00a0 This was countrary to other published literature.<\/p>\n

As we tried to decipher why this difference occurred, we concluded that our research project only exposed sheep to heat during the day and not at night.\u00a0 The sheep were able to maintain normal body heat, as long as they limited activity to the cooler nights, which are common in the Chihuahua desert.\u00a0 As the saying goes, I learned more from this failure than had we been successful.\u00a0 This learning has stuck with me for nearly two decades.<\/p>\n

When people ask me how to help animals deal with heat stress.\u00a0 My initial question is always \u201cWhat temperatures does it drop down to at night?\u201d and \u201cCan the animals relax in the shade during the day?\u201d\u00a0 These are important aspects to determine if heat stress is evident or not. Adding multiple water sources could also potentially help utilize more pasture, as livestock typically don\u2019t travel far from water when experiencing constant extreme temperatures. It is also critical to reduce as many other \u201cstressors\u201d that your sheep and goats may be experiencing as well, e.g. monitor them closely for internal parasite burden and if livestock must be worked, try to contain the activities to just the early morning hours.<\/p>\n

One thing that further worries me about this year in particular in the San Angelo area is the lack of quality forage in the pasture.\u00a0 I am routinely observing whitetail deer up and foraging during the heat of the day.\u00a0 Why would they be doing this instead of seeking shade?\u00a0 I suspect, it is the lack of quality forage in the pasture for them to find at night and they are forced to search for nutrition during the day.\u00a0 Basically, adding insult to injury.<\/p>\n

For our livestock, I would encourage you to supplement sheep and goats that are exhibiting this same type of behavior to help them get through the dog days of summer without losses in productivity.<\/p>\n

And, of course, pray for rain!<\/p>\n

\"Sheep<\/p>\n

To provide feedback on this article or request topics for future articles, contact me at reid.redden@ag.tamu.edu or 325-657-7324. \u00a0For general questions about sheep and goats, contact your local Texas A&M AgriLife Extension Service county office.\u00a0 If they can\u2019t answer your question, they have access to someone who can.<\/em><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Dog Days of Summer As I sit to write this article, the actual temperature is 110 degrees Fahrenheit.\u00a0 It is down right uncomfortable for anybody or anything that has to… Read More →<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2037,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_genesis_hide_title":false,"_genesis_hide_breadcrumbs":false,"_genesis_hide_singular_image":false,"_genesis_hide_footer_widgets":false,"_genesis_custom_body_class":"","_genesis_custom_post_class":"","_genesis_layout":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-743","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","category-uncategorized","entry"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nReid's Ram-blings: August 2022 - Sheep And Goats<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/agrilife.org\/sheepandgoat\/2022\/08\/05\/reids-ram-blings-august-2022\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Reid's Ram-blings: August 2022 - Sheep And Goats\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Dog Days of Summer As I sit to write this article, the actual temperature is 110 degrees Fahrenheit.\u00a0 It is down right uncomfortable for anybody or anything that has to... Read More →\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/agrilife.org\/sheepandgoat\/2022\/08\/05\/reids-ram-blings-august-2022\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Sheep And Goats\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2022-08-05T14:38:00+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2026-02-18T21:48:26+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/agrilife.org\/sheepandgoat\/files\/2022\/07\/IMG_0417-scaled.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"2560\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"1920\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"jaime.sanford\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"jaime.sanford\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"4 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/agrilife.org\\\/sheepandgoat\\\/2022\\\/08\\\/05\\\/reids-ram-blings-august-2022\\\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/agrilife.org\\\/sheepandgoat\\\/2022\\\/08\\\/05\\\/reids-ram-blings-august-2022\\\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"jaime.sanford\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/agrilife.org\\\/sheepandgoat\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/9c2816ab63232983ab3314452202a0a3\"},\"headline\":\"Reid’s Ram-blings: August 2022\",\"datePublished\":\"2022-08-05T14:38:00+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2026-02-18T21:48:26+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/agrilife.org\\\/sheepandgoat\\\/2022\\\/08\\\/05\\\/reids-ram-blings-august-2022\\\/\"},\"wordCount\":708,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/agrilife.org\\\/sheepandgoat\\\/2022\\\/08\\\/05\\\/reids-ram-blings-august-2022\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/agrilife.org\\\/sheepandgoat\\\/files\\\/2022\\\/07\\\/IMG_0417-300x225.jpg\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/agrilife.org\\\/sheepandgoat\\\/2022\\\/08\\\/05\\\/reids-ram-blings-august-2022\\\/\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/agrilife.org\\\/sheepandgoat\\\/2022\\\/08\\\/05\\\/reids-ram-blings-august-2022\\\/\",\"name\":\"Reid's Ram-blings: August 2022 - Sheep And Goats\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/agrilife.org\\\/sheepandgoat\\\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/agrilife.org\\\/sheepandgoat\\\/2022\\\/08\\\/05\\\/reids-ram-blings-august-2022\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/agrilife.org\\\/sheepandgoat\\\/2022\\\/08\\\/05\\\/reids-ram-blings-august-2022\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/agrilife.org\\\/sheepandgoat\\\/files\\\/2022\\\/07\\\/IMG_0417-300x225.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2022-08-05T14:38:00+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2026-02-18T21:48:26+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/agrilife.org\\\/sheepandgoat\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/9c2816ab63232983ab3314452202a0a3\"},\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/agrilife.org\\\/sheepandgoat\\\/2022\\\/08\\\/05\\\/reids-ram-blings-august-2022\\\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/agrilife.org\\\/sheepandgoat\\\/2022\\\/08\\\/05\\\/reids-ram-blings-august-2022\\\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/agrilife.org\\\/sheepandgoat\\\/2022\\\/08\\\/05\\\/reids-ram-blings-august-2022\\\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/agrilife.org\\\/sheepandgoat\\\/files\\\/2022\\\/07\\\/IMG_0417-scaled.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/agrilife.org\\\/sheepandgoat\\\/files\\\/2022\\\/07\\\/IMG_0417-scaled.jpg\",\"width\":2560,\"height\":1920},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/agrilife.org\\\/sheepandgoat\\\/2022\\\/08\\\/05\\\/reids-ram-blings-august-2022\\\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\\\/\\\/agrilife.org\\\/sheepandgoat\\\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Reid’s Ram-blings: August 2022\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/agrilife.org\\\/sheepandgoat\\\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/agrilife.org\\\/sheepandgoat\\\/\",\"name\":\"Sheep And Goats\",\"description\":\"Staying Up-to-Date on Sheep and Goats\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\\\/\\\/agrilife.org\\\/sheepandgoat\\\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/agrilife.org\\\/sheepandgoat\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/9c2816ab63232983ab3314452202a0a3\",\"name\":\"jaime.sanford\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/458c5cfc0c19399fb22cb23797dc9739884b4f7a38b18ec43626a84895175194?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/458c5cfc0c19399fb22cb23797dc9739884b4f7a38b18ec43626a84895175194?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/458c5cfc0c19399fb22cb23797dc9739884b4f7a38b18ec43626a84895175194?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"jaime.sanford\"},\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/agrilife.org\\\/sheepandgoat\\\/author\\\/jaime-sanford\\\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Reid's Ram-blings: August 2022 - Sheep And Goats","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/agrilife.org\/sheepandgoat\/2022\/08\/05\/reids-ram-blings-august-2022\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Reid's Ram-blings: August 2022 - Sheep And Goats","og_description":"Dog Days of Summer As I sit to write this article, the actual temperature is 110 degrees Fahrenheit.\u00a0 It is down right uncomfortable for anybody or anything that has to... Read More →","og_url":"https:\/\/agrilife.org\/sheepandgoat\/2022\/08\/05\/reids-ram-blings-august-2022\/","og_site_name":"Sheep And Goats","article_published_time":"2022-08-05T14:38:00+00:00","article_modified_time":"2026-02-18T21:48:26+00:00","og_image":[{"width":2560,"height":1920,"url":"https:\/\/agrilife.org\/sheepandgoat\/files\/2022\/07\/IMG_0417-scaled.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"jaime.sanford","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"jaime.sanford","Est. reading time":"4 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/agrilife.org\/sheepandgoat\/2022\/08\/05\/reids-ram-blings-august-2022\/#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/agrilife.org\/sheepandgoat\/2022\/08\/05\/reids-ram-blings-august-2022\/"},"author":{"name":"jaime.sanford","@id":"https:\/\/agrilife.org\/sheepandgoat\/#\/schema\/person\/9c2816ab63232983ab3314452202a0a3"},"headline":"Reid’s Ram-blings: August 2022","datePublished":"2022-08-05T14:38:00+00:00","dateModified":"2026-02-18T21:48:26+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/agrilife.org\/sheepandgoat\/2022\/08\/05\/reids-ram-blings-august-2022\/"},"wordCount":708,"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/agrilife.org\/sheepandgoat\/2022\/08\/05\/reids-ram-blings-august-2022\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/agrilife.org\/sheepandgoat\/files\/2022\/07\/IMG_0417-300x225.jpg","inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/agrilife.org\/sheepandgoat\/2022\/08\/05\/reids-ram-blings-august-2022\/","url":"https:\/\/agrilife.org\/sheepandgoat\/2022\/08\/05\/reids-ram-blings-august-2022\/","name":"Reid's Ram-blings: August 2022 - Sheep And Goats","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/agrilife.org\/sheepandgoat\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/agrilife.org\/sheepandgoat\/2022\/08\/05\/reids-ram-blings-august-2022\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/agrilife.org\/sheepandgoat\/2022\/08\/05\/reids-ram-blings-august-2022\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/agrilife.org\/sheepandgoat\/files\/2022\/07\/IMG_0417-300x225.jpg","datePublished":"2022-08-05T14:38:00+00:00","dateModified":"2026-02-18T21:48:26+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/agrilife.org\/sheepandgoat\/#\/schema\/person\/9c2816ab63232983ab3314452202a0a3"},"breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/agrilife.org\/sheepandgoat\/2022\/08\/05\/reids-ram-blings-august-2022\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/agrilife.org\/sheepandgoat\/2022\/08\/05\/reids-ram-blings-august-2022\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/agrilife.org\/sheepandgoat\/2022\/08\/05\/reids-ram-blings-august-2022\/#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/agrilife.org\/sheepandgoat\/files\/2022\/07\/IMG_0417-scaled.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/agrilife.org\/sheepandgoat\/files\/2022\/07\/IMG_0417-scaled.jpg","width":2560,"height":1920},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/agrilife.org\/sheepandgoat\/2022\/08\/05\/reids-ram-blings-august-2022\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/agrilife.org\/sheepandgoat\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Reid’s Ram-blings: August 2022"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/agrilife.org\/sheepandgoat\/#website","url":"https:\/\/agrilife.org\/sheepandgoat\/","name":"Sheep And Goats","description":"Staying Up-to-Date on Sheep and Goats","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/agrilife.org\/sheepandgoat\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/agrilife.org\/sheepandgoat\/#\/schema\/person\/9c2816ab63232983ab3314452202a0a3","name":"jaime.sanford","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/458c5cfc0c19399fb22cb23797dc9739884b4f7a38b18ec43626a84895175194?s=96&d=mm&r=g","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/458c5cfc0c19399fb22cb23797dc9739884b4f7a38b18ec43626a84895175194?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/458c5cfc0c19399fb22cb23797dc9739884b4f7a38b18ec43626a84895175194?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"jaime.sanford"},"url":"https:\/\/agrilife.org\/sheepandgoat\/author\/jaime-sanford\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/agrilife.org\/sheepandgoat\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/743","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/agrilife.org\/sheepandgoat\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/agrilife.org\/sheepandgoat\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/agrilife.org\/sheepandgoat\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2037"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/agrilife.org\/sheepandgoat\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=743"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/agrilife.org\/sheepandgoat\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/743\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/agrilife.org\/sheepandgoat\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=743"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/agrilife.org\/sheepandgoat\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=743"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/agrilife.org\/sheepandgoat\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=743"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}