Feature
●Kestrel 5400AG Cattle Heat Stress Tracker with Link and Vane Mount
Description
Measure Manage Maximize with the Kestrel 5400AG Cattle Heat Stress Tracker with LiNK.
Made for use on the farm, The Kestrel Cattle Heat Stress Tracker is particularly suited for monitoring cattle, livestock, and human heat stress but offers many additional measurements useful to the agriculture professional. Made in the USA
Kestrel has been building weather and environmental meters for over two decades. For many farmers, a pocket Kestrel meter has been their standby tool for monitoring conditions for spraying, irrigation, harvesting and processing. Kestrel also has developed some of the most advanced meters on the market for monitoring human heat stress in athletics and demanding work scenarios. Kestrel has brought its farming experience and technical and physiological expertise to bear to develop affordable, easy-to-use solutions to allow cattlemen and dairy operators to accurately measure and monitor cattle heat stress conditions without reference to complex tables and spreadsheets.
Kestrel Agriculture Meters are handheld and portable solutions for heat stress measurement specific to dairy and beef cattle. The Kestrel 5400AG Cattle Heat Stress Tracker can be easily set up for a particular group of cattle with simple menu picks for animal and environment variables. It can then be mounted at the pen where it will automatically track day and night conditions and calculate the current AHLU. You can even receive alerts on your mobile phone signaling the right time to implement heat stress management plans for maximum effect with minimum cost.
What is cattle heat stress?
Heat and humidity are tough on cattle. Rising temperatures and humidity result in increasing body temperatures, with very negative consequences. Even cattle living in fairly moderate climates may experience periods of heat stress. Heat stress causes a wide range of behavioral and medical issues in cattle – all of which cost the dairy or beef producer money.
LOSS OF APPETITE Cattle lose their appetite when their body temperature exceeds critical thresholds, causing reduced dry matter intake, milk yield, growth and weight gain and resulting in the loss of feed rations to spoilage.
REDUCED FERTILILTY Heat stress impacts fertility and reproductive efficiency, causing losses in cow calf and dairy operations.
PRONE TO HEALTH ISSUES Medical problems can quickly arise in heat stress situations, including lameness from disruption of the digestive process, impaired immunity, and in the worst cases, rapid death.
REDUCED CARCASS QUALITY The transportation of heat stressed cattle may have a negative effective on carcass quality.
The Kestrel Cattle Heat Stress trackers were developed for producers to improve summer heat stress management and maintain herd performance, minimize production losses, protect cattle and increase their bottom line.
Who’s Using?
- Feedlots/Feedyards
- Cow-Calf Operators
- Backgrounding Operations
- Dairy Producers
- Processors
- Veterinarians
- Livestock Nutritionists
- Transportation Providers
- Researchers
Kestrel LiNK for Windows and Mac
- Kestrel LiNK for Windows
- Kestrel LiNK for MAC OSX
Kestrel LiNK for iOS & Android
- Kestrel LiNK for iOS
- Kestrel LiNK for Android
Designed by Kestrel with input from some of the world’s most respected experts in cattle heat stress, the Kestrel 5400 Cattle Heat Stress Tracker is designed to help you MEASURE and MANAGE your herd’s heat stress, ensuring you MAXIMIZE your bottom line.
- Heat Load Index (HLI), Temperature-Humidity Index (THI), Accumulated Heat Load Units (AHLU), Wet Bulb Globe Temperature (WBGT), heat index, Delta T, temperature, humidity and much more. 21 measurements in all!
- Complete weather station capabilities with a comprehensive suite of weather measurements including wind speed, direction, pressure trend, temperature and humidity.
- Durable, portable, and easy to use data logger with customizable category settings, graphing and measurement statistics.
- Large, hi-res, hi-contrast, graphic display is perfectly readable in the brightest sunlight and is backlit for use in low-light conditions.
- LiNK connectivity powered by Bluetooth LE provides wireless communication to mobile devices and computers.
- Rugged (drop tested to MIL-STD-810G standards), dust and waterproof (sealed to IP67 standards).
- Included Kestrel Vane Mount easily attaches to fencing.
- Protective pouch, neck lanyard and Lithium AA battery included.
Cattle Specific Heat Stress Management
Heat Stress Management
Reducing cattle heat stress, and the associated losses in productivity and performance, is worth every cattle manager’s attention. Effective heat stress management requires an understanding of all factors contributing to a cow’s heat energy balance.
Objective and accurate measurements at pen level are critical to planning your heat management strategy.
Managing heat events and implementing the proper management plans can mean the difference between life and death of your cattle and send savings straight to your bottom line. With accurate microclimate environmental data and cattle-specific heat stress measurements from your Kestrel Cattle Heat Stress Tracker, you will know when and where it is necessary to implement your plan.
There are a variety of management options available depending on the site characteristics and options available to your location. These can include:
- Providing temporary or permanent shade structures, particularly over vulnerable animals
- Adding fans
- Improving air flow by removing obstructions
- Wetting the animals or the ground with sprinklers (effective in low humidity and wind – may be counter-productive in high humidity)
- Changing the nutrition mix to a low heat increment diet
- Changing feeding schedule
- Increasing availability of water to ensure all animals have ready access
- Removing manure buildup, which creates additional heat
- Avoiding moving the animals
By the time signs and symptoms of heat stress such as panting and drooling are visible in your cattle, production losses have already begun.
Cattle suffer heat stress before people do, so simply waiting until you feel the heat intensify will also not ensure heat losses are prevented. Because cattle accumulate heat, if they do not have an opportunity to dissipate heat through overnight temperature cooling or environmental modifications, your herds heat problems are increasing invisibly.
The first step in any cost-effective heat management plan is to accurately measure conditions wherever cattle are contained, at the pen level, and then determine your cattles’ risk of heat stress injury. To provide more accurate management guidance, researchers and government agencies have developed a variety of cattle-specific measurements and management models:
Maximize
Implementing a measurement-based heat stress management plan helps you maximize herd PERFORMANCE and profits!
- Increase Milk Production
- Improve Weight Gain
- Reduce Feed Loss
- Reduce Health Costs
- Avoid Livestock Loss
Cattle Heat Stress Measurements
THI - Temperature-Humidity Index THI is calculated based on ambient temperature and relative humidity and has been extensively applied in research and management to represent the overall impact of moderate to hot conditions on cattle, especially those who are housed. Although THI is similar to the Heat Index typically reported in the local weather report, it is calculated differently. Accordingly, to obtain THI without a dedicated instrument, it is necessary to take a local temperature and humidity reading and refer to a reference table or perform calculations.
HLI – Heat Load Index The limitation of THI is that is does not take into account sun, air flow, or accumulation effects. HLI is a more complete environmental index which includes temperature, relative humidity, and the additional parameters of solar radiation and wind speed. These added parameters are most important for assessing heat stress risk in exposed, unshaded cattle. These parameters are derived from the Globe Temperature – an advanced meteorological measurement which uses a heat-absorbing metal globe. Because Globe Temperature is not available on traditional weather stations, it has previously been difficult to implement management practices based on HLI.
AHLU – Accumulated Heat Load Units AHLU is the most complete cattle heat stress model – addressing the fact that cattle accumulate heat load during prolonged heat events where they have insufficient environmental night cooling. THI and HLI alone may not predict the level of cattle heat stress because they do not address this accumulation impact.
Kestrel 5400AG Cattle Heat Stress Tracker with LiNK + Vane Mount
Kestrel 5400AG Cattle Heat Stress Tracker with LiNK + Vane Mount
The Kestrel 5400 Cattle Heat Stress Tracker offers micro-climate measurement and monitoring at the pen or yard location. Contains a built-in Globe Temperature sensor and complete cattle-specific calculations.
Don’t let cattle heat stress reduce your herd performance and cost you money. Implement an effective management plan based on objective and accurate THI, HLI and AHLU measurements at the pen level with Kestrel.
Measure THI and HLI and track AHLU based on easy-to-input herd and pen parameters. Perform spot checks or mount in place with the included vane mount accessory to track AHLU for months. LiNK capability allows remote access to current and logged data from your iOS or Android mobile device. Mount a mobile data equipped tablet nearby to send mobile alerts even when you’re not on-site.
Measurements:
Altitude
Accumulated Heat Load Units (AHLU)
Barometric Pressure
Crosswind
Delta T
Density Altitude
Dew Point Temperature
Globe Temperature
Headwind/Tailwind
Heat Load Index (HLI)
Heat Stress Index
Naturally Aspirated Wet Bulb Temperature Relative Humidity
Station Pressure (Absolute Pressure)
Temperature
Temperature-Humidity Index (THI)
Wet Bulb Temperature (Psychrometric)
Wet Bulb Globe Temperature (WBGT)
Wind Chill
Wind Direction (Cardinal Points, Degrees)
Wind Speed