For Dairy Cows, Where There’s Smoke, There’s Less Milk
August 17, 2021
This story by Kylie Mohr was published by High Country News on Aug. 16.
Six of Zach Rose’s cows at Rogue Creamery in southern Oregon came down with pneumonia shortly after a bad fire season in 2018, and he thinks the smoke was to blame. “You can see a lot of respiratory issues if they inhale a lot of smoke,” said Rose, the organic dairy’s manager. “We try to keep them indoors obviously as much as possible in those times of really smoky conditions.” Researchers and farmers are trying to figure out just how harmful wildfire smoke is to dairy cows’ health, and to their own bottom lines. Read more.
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