Our animals consume much more water when it's this hot. The sheep and goats need 1-2 gallons of water each in this type of weather, which means we're hauling more water to places like Sierra College and Whitney Oaks. They'll also consume less forage during the hot part of the day - we try to get them up and eating early in the morning and in the cool of the evening. They tend to loaf in the shade during the middle of the day. And speaking of shade, we try to set up our paddocks so that there's plenty of shade.
We also take special care of our dogs in this type of weather. The guard dogs, like the sheep, need plenty of water. The border collies can become overheated very quickly while working - we make sure they have water to drink and to swim in. We also clip our longer-haired border collies, which helps them stay cooler. When I have dogs with me in a vehicle, I don't leave them in the truck - they get to go with me on a leash most places. Finally, we try to manage our stock moves to ensure that the sheep and the dogs are moving (exercising) during the cooler part of the day.
We're supposed to have one more hot day this week, and then drop back into the 80's and 70's - I'm fine with that! I prefer cold weather to hot - I can always put on more clothing, but there's only so much I can take off (at least in public)!
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