By Ashfaque Ahmed Soomro and Frank van Steenbergen
Climate change has a major impact on humans, but the impact on livestock is no less. An example is the 2022 floods in Pakistan: here, more than one million animals lost their lives, especially of the larger animals, which could not be moved to safe grounds. It left many rural households without part of the sustenance of the family.
Besides the risk of being stranded during a flood, livestock is affected in many other dimensions of cropping in spate areas. Livestock is a major livelihood resource that farmers are dependent on. Climate resilient livestock management has always been a challenge for the farmers, particularly in poverty-stricken and climatically sensitive areas, like the spate irrigated areas, where heavy floods sometimes cause trouble.
Global warming results in a varied intensity of climate events, which leads to warmer and more intense summers. This substantially impacts livestock productivity and therefore results in a decline in animal products such as milk because of high mortality and competition for limited fodder and water resources[1]. With the rise in temperature and humidity, stress in animals has increased, leading to the incidence of various animal diseases.
During floods and rainy days, besides humans, animals suffer hugely, and farmers take animals out of the houses and keep them either on the road sides/roads and at some raised points which are not meant for the animals, where animals become prone to diseases, particularly mosquitoes and infestation due to dirty water intake.
Considering immediate challenges in milk productivity and animal reproduction, as extreme temperature occurrences are likely to be more frequent in the future too, it is necessary to manage the animal rearing environment and production to sustain the income-earning for the vulnerable farmers.
Key Features of Resilient Shed/architecture
- It is designed on the principles on climate friendly animal living environment
- It is constructed with brick and cement pillars; these can resist the lateral pressure of floods
- It is airy and well ventilated – making the sheds heat-tolerant
- Its roof is made with thatched material and an inner polythene sheet, and a roof drain pipe which controls rainwater into the shed
- It has a proper place for animal drinking water pots
- It has a proper fodder-eating place
- Animal to animal space is properly maintained in order to provide an airy and easier space for animals to move around and eat easily
Benefits of Climate Resilient Livestock Sheds
- Provide a comfortable living environment for animals
- Reduces heat and cold-induced diseases in animals
- Improves the health of animals
- Better and more careful space and environment for baby animals/calves
- Heat-tolerant cattle sheds enhance the livestock performance during heat stress conditions.
- Farmers can easily manage fodder and water intake to their animals
References
[1] Establishment of Climate Resilient Cattle Sheds For Better Livestock Production, by Dr. Mandeep Singh, 17 May 2022.
