Even though the cool weather has lingered on, it’s nearly the official start of summer. The cool, low humidity days have been good for people and pigs.

Soon, however, there will be stretches of hot and humid weather to contend with. To help livestock and poultry deal with summer conditions, a new app on heat stress has been developed, according to the Iowa Pork Industry Center.

“The Heat Stress in Livestock and Poultry App” allows the user to calculate heat stress based on measured barn temperature and relative humidity. It then offers suggestions on reducing heat stress and improve comfort.

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The app works in English, French and Spanish for seven types of livestock, uses two-degree temperature increments and five-degree humidity changes (both in metric and English measurements); includes a variety of ventilation systems and offer practical actions to reduce heat stress.

It’s available from the Ontario Ministry of Agriculture and Food and Ministry of Rural Affairs and the University of Guelph, and best of all – it’s a free download.

To find out how it works, look at the downloadable information page, especially at the screen shots, and give it a try: https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=ca.uoguelph.cmer.heatstress