Lydia, breeder, adjusts a drip to cool her sows, June 17, 2022 in Kerfourn, Morbihan (AFP / DAMIEN MEYER)
While the mercury is approaching 35 degrees, Lydia is worried about her sixty sows who are about to give birth: the Breton breeder has activated a drip on their necks and diverted the irrigation from her fields to water the roof of the pigsty.
“It’s completely new, we’re in Brittany what!” exclaims the breeder who, with her husband Philippe, raises some 3,200 pigs in Kerfourn (Morbihan).
The water, which normally irrigates its crops of wheat, rapeseed and maize, is sprayed non-stop on the roof in full dodger.
Even if it evaporates almost immediately, the breeder hopes to lower the temperature inside by a degree or two.
“Heat is never good for pigs because they don’t sweat. So their body temperature rises like a pressure cooker, they ventilate and they can die of it,” says Lydia, 50, who doesn’t want to give her last name.
But the risk is double today for his 65 sows who have to give birth between Sunday and Wednesday “because they could have their little ones earlier than expected”, which is never desirable, according to the breeder who takes care of the total of 350 sows.
Watering the roof of a pigsty to lower the temperature inside, June 17, 2022 in Kerfourn, Morbihan (AFP / DAMIEN MEYER)
She walks through the corridors of the maternity ward: all lying down, some are already ventilating “but it’s hard to know if it’s work that’s starting or if it’s the heat,” says the breeder.
At midday the temperature is close to 30 degrees: she decides to activate the drip system. “Every hour, 2 liters of water drip delicately on the back of the neck”, explains Lydia, stroking her sow.
– 16 liters per day –
This conventional breeder is also vigilant about the water consumption of her sows so that they can produce enough milk.
Lydia, breeder, watches her sows which are about to give birth, on June 17, 2022 in Kerfourn, in Morbihan (AFP / DAMIEN MEYER)
“Normally, I give them 16 liters of water a day; here, I would like them to drink at least 25”, explains Lydia, who had already experienced a similar heat episode two years ago.
“The problem is that the temperatures drop less and less at night. So I can’t manage to lower the temperature of the building”, assures the breeder who, despite the heat and her complete combination, keep smiling.
-Bicarbonate for his cows-
70 kilometers away, near Pipriac (Ille-et-Vilaine), Gaëllic Le Roux, 40, is also on the bridge.
Breeder Gaëllic Le Roux milks his cows on June 17, 2022 in Pipriac, Ille-et-Vilaine (AFP / Damien MEYER)
This breeder of 70 dairy cows, who cultivates 80 hectares of wheat, corn and rapeseed to feed them, began adding baking soda to their portion of corn, grass and rapeseed on Wednesday.
The objective: to prepare the cows for the heat and to facilitate their digestion.
In such temperatures, he also uses a homemade mister: two sprinklers on a garden hose suspended above his milking cows, glued to each other.
Mr. Le Roux set up this system D with his wife Léna as soon as they took over this operation, 11 years ago: “we come from Finistère so these are temperatures that we had never seen !”
“When it’s this hot, the cows produce less milk,” explains Léna Le Roux, 35, with a wet cap on her head.
Cows pass under a mist to cool them on June 17, 2022 in Pipriac, Ille-et-Vilaine (AFP / Damien MEYER)
“Heat peaks like that are fine, but it shouldn’t last longer,” continues the breeder.
What worries her husband is above all the drought: “it is on track to arrive this summer and, if ever the yields of the maize I grow are bad, I don’t know how I will be able to feed the cows all year round. next!” exclaims Gaëllic Le Roux.
© 2022 AFP
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