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hatrack

(59,574 posts)
Fri Dec 27, 2019, 08:04 PM Dec 2019

In Australia, Heat Rendering Bulls Sterile, Cattle & Pigs Aborting - One NSW Vet's Experience

Bulls cannot breed at Inverell. They are becoming infertile from their testicles overheating. Mares are not falling pregnant, and through the heat, piglets and calves are aborting. My work as a veterinarian has changed so much. While I would normally test bulls for fertility, or herds of cattle for pregnancy, I no longer do, because the livestock has been sold. A client’s stud stock in Inverell has reduced from 2000 breeders to zero.

I once assisted farmers who have spent their lives developing breeding programs, with historic bloodlines that go back 80 years. These stud farmers are now left with a handful of breeders that they can’t bear to part with, spending thousands keeping them fed, and going broke doing it.

Cattle that sold for thousands are now in the sale yards at $70 a head. Those classed as too skinny for sale are costing the farmer $130 to be destroyed. They are all gone and it was all for nothing. The paddocks are bare, the dams dry, the grass crispy and brown. The whole region has been completely destocked and is devoid of life.

For 22 years, I have been the vet in this once-thriving town in northern NSW, which, as climate change continues to fuel extreme heat, drought and bushfires, has become hell on Earth. Here, we are seeing extreme weather events like never before. The other day we had about eight centimetres of rain in 20 minutes. These downpours are like rain bombs. They are so ferocious that a farmer lost all of his fences, and all it did was silt up the dam so he had to use a machine to excavate the mud.

EDIT

https://www.smh.com.au/environment/climate-change/cattle-have-stopped-breeding-koalas-die-of-thirst-a-vet-s-hellish-diary-of-climate-change-20191220-p53m03.html

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In Australia, Heat Rendering Bulls Sterile, Cattle & Pigs Aborting - One NSW Vet's Experience (Original Post) hatrack Dec 2019 OP
That is frightening. SunSeeker Dec 2019 #1
It really is. Mickju Dec 2019 #5
Well, I am certainly glad that our peerless leader has told us Haggis for Breakfast Dec 2019 #2
Animal agriculture Roy Rolling Dec 2019 #3
I am very sorry for the ranchers. I am very sorry for US... albacore Dec 2019 #4

Roy Rolling

(6,908 posts)
3. Animal agriculture
Fri Dec 27, 2019, 10:50 PM
Dec 2019

Raising cattle is a large contributor of greenhouse gasses, too. Mother Earth is just rebelling as she usually does.

albacore

(2,398 posts)
4. I am very sorry for the ranchers. I am very sorry for US...
Sat Dec 28, 2019, 12:44 AM
Dec 2019

But many people have forgotten that Mother Nature always bats last.

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