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Crossbreeding cattle for heat resistance
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Thompson Rivers University researcher John Church says he’s very encouraged by early results in his attempt to make B.C. cattle more heat resistant. As cattle research chair at TRU, Church is working with three ranches near Kamloops, including Sun Peaks, Barnhartvale and Kelowna. Church has worked with forward-thinking ranchers to crossbreed Red Angus cattle with Senepol cattle, a breed found in the Caribbean. “The Senepol has developed this unique mutation, called the slick mutation, which means their summer hair coat is a lot thinner,” Church told KTW. Along with the thinner summer coat, Church said the cattle may also have an enhanced ability to sweat and tests are also being done to look for internal metabolic changes that would also allow for more heat tolerance. Church cited extreme weather and ever-increasing temperatures due to climate change as the reason for the study. “I decided to investigate this because the impact from these heat domes is just unbelievable,” Church said. Cattle aren’t dropping dead en masse in B.C. due to the heat just yet, but Church said he did hear about heat-related cattle
deaths in the Lower Mainland, mostly among dairy cattle, but also among beef, which is the type Church is working with for the project. In June 2022, heat stress was blamed for the deaths of thousands of cattle over just a few days at feed lots in Kansas. Church said because B.C. exports the majority of its calves, the extra resilience could be spread elsewhere. “I think this might be the future. We used to think that we needed a lot of high humidity to be lethal and we know that’s not true anymore,” Church said. While cattle can generally tolerate high daytime temperatures, A Senepol-Angus calf near located on Joanne Nicklas’ ranch near Sun Peaks, which has about 15 cattle taking part in the research project. it is sustained high overnight temperatures that can cause even possible back when the 90-degree temperature swing,” mortality. embryos were frozen, Church he said. “Cows don’t dissipate heat, said. Initially, there were concerns even as well as people do. It’s Church said the foundation over how short-haired animals more that they need a chance to would fare in the winter, but cool down at night,” Church said. stock is three-quarters Senepol and one-quarter Angus, which is Church said so far, so good. While the Senepol breed then bred back to what Church “That was probably the thing originates in the Caribbean, the people were most concerned provenance of these B.C. cattle is calls a Sen-Angus — threeeighths Senepol and five-eighths about, if they’d freeze to death in a little closer to home. Angus. the winter. We haven’t seen that Church worked with a comBut he’s not stopping there. at all. They seem to do just fine,” pany in Alberta, which had He said there are also plans to he said. frozen Senepol embryos in storcross with Black Angus breeds, Church expects a heatage. They had been there for 18 as well as other breeds that grow resistant crossbreed to be ready years, frozen in tanks of liquid double coats in the winter, mak- in five years but said the market nitrogen. ing them more resilient to both for the breed will be determined Working with Paul Adams of by how quickly climate change Kwantlen Polytechnic University, extremes. “You need an animal in occurs. Church said that university has Canada that is capable of han“I think we can have somedone work in sequencing the dling, probably plus-50 C on thing in five years. If we waited genomes of the offspring prothe hot side, yet can still handle until 2030, that’s too late to start duced using the embryos. -40 C in the winter. It’s an 80- or changing,” he said. That’s something that wasn’t
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