Heat wave: livestock and crops at risk

At 40°C in the shade, cows find it difficult to breathe. A young breeder, worried, watches over his herd. “Until Sunday [19 juin]the fear that there is is to find an animal lying down and that it does not get up”says Ludovic Marty, calf breeder. During heat waves, water stress can lead to the death of animals. In Loire-Atlantique, ewes also suffer from the heat. Even in the shade, at rest, their breathing is panting.

This year the strawberries were picked earlier. “Cultures, like ecosystems, need a minimum of stability. We can last an unstable year but not two, three, four, five years in a row. It will become unmanageable”says Yoann Morice, from the farm permabocage. In Haute-Garonne, on cracked earth, a grain farmer should harvest three weeks in advance.