Groundbreaking research is currently underway in B.C.'s Cariboo region to develop a type of cattle better able to withstand both hot and cold weather events.

Brazilian and Canadian researchers have teamed up to help tackle some of the issues around livestock production and climate change, and the research is taking place right in Beaver Valley, near Horsefly, B.C.

By trying to test whether cold-tolerant traits and heat-tolerant traits can co-exist in cattle, Thompson Rivers University (TRU) professor Dr. John Church said the research could help make the beef industry better able to withstand impacts of climate change on beef production.

Looking at the potential of using both traditional cross-breeding and gene-editing technology, the research will see how animals with both cold-tolerant traits and heat-tolerant trails can be developed to manage in a Cariboo climate. So far, the research is only relying on cross-bred animals, but gene editing could enable for a more consistent body size, which the industry prefers, and could be a lot faster than using traditional breeding.

Church is working with two Brazilian researchers who are both international students in the TRU Williams Lake Regenerative Agriculture Program. Along with being a TRU professor, Church is the B.C. Beef Industry Sustainability chair. The team is also partnering with Mitch Brown-John, owner of Wild Rye Ranch and host ranch mentor for the young Brazilians and the project.

The Brazilian students are Pedro Gaiki and Felipe Futema, both of whom began working with cattle back in Brazil. Gaiki grew up on cattle ranches in Brazil, one of the world's largest beef producers, and is a third year veterinary student. Futema grew up in the city but began working with cattle in university and has worked on feed lots. 

"This is a fantastic collaboration between the Canadians and Brazilians," said Church.

With the Horsefly area experiencing large variations in temperatures throughout the year, from as low as -40 C in the winter to 30 C above in the summer, the difference of almost 70 degrees is a good place to see how the new cross-breed of cattle does.

So far, the project appears to have seen some success in the cross-breeding of cold-tolerant cattle breeds with a heat-tolerant cattle breed in the hopes they can find an animal which will grow an insulating coat for the cold winters, while shedding this coat to have a finer and cooler coat for summer heat.

The short, fine coats of the Senepol cattle breed from the Caribbean will hopefully allow for the cattle to experience less heat stress while the double-layered winter coat of the Highland and Galloway cattle breeds originating from Scotland will help reduce the feed requirements for overwintering cattle in cold Cariboo winters.

The researchers are using some of the latest technology to measure the animals' temperatures now to see how the cross-bred animals respond to the different temperatures. Thermal cameras on drones, internal monitoring via a bolus device which goes into the cattle's stomachs and remote fencing using solar-powered GPS trackers are all helping observe how the animals do. 

"The same techniques we've been developing here and doing here, we plan to do these exact same things in Brazil," explained Church. 

In July the two Brazilian researchers will take the knowledge and experience they have gained in the Cariboo back to Brazil to study cattle there. In Brazil, the conditions which normally cause heat stress in cattle are more consistent and so the researchers can see how the cross-bred cattle deal with high temperatures. TRU will be looking at gene-edited animals in Brazil in partnership with a university there, which could move the process along much faster to find a more climate change tolerant animal and could make for a more consistent body size, something the Senepol breed does not seem to produce.

"The beef industry really demands consistency," explained Church. Gene edited animals could be used as food in Brazil and the United States, however they would not be legal to put into the food system in Canada so far. 

In southern Brazil, a combination of rain and hot sun make for good conditions to test heat stress. 

While 619 human deaths were attributed to a heat dome event in the summer of 2021 in B.C., what many may not have thought about are the animal deaths which also took place at the same time.

Not only were there mass casualties of some wildlife caused by the extreme temperatures, but farm animals also saw impacts. There were over 650,000 reported deaths of livestock during the heat dome, according to numbers obtained by Animal Justice advocates after freedom of information requests to producers. Those numbers largely represent poultry deaths, but cattle apparently also saw impacts from the heat.

"Death is the penultimate," said Church. "Long before they die it takes a big hit to their average daily gain."

The researchers said fertility rates go down and disease rates go up, all of which could lead to bigger losses for cattle producers.

Church said the country's best climate scientists are telling him heat domes like the one B.C. experienced in 2021 could become more frequent.