Climate change is increasing the frequency and severity of heat waves. Livestock farmers need emergency welfare plans to prevent mass mortality and suffering during extreme heat events.
Livestock heat wave welfare planning is one of the most urgent adaptations required by climate change. Farmers who have relied on historically moderate summer temperatures in temperate regions increasingly face extreme heat events for which their infrastructure is entirely unprepared. Confined livestock — particularly pigs and laying hens in poorly ventilated buildings — can die from heat stress within hours of system failures. Emergency planning that identifies welfare risk thresholds, pre-positions cooling equipment, secures backup power for ventilation, and establishes rapid response protocols for severe heat events is not optional in a warming world — it is a fundamental welfare obligation. Welfare regulations and assurance schemes in heat-exposed regions must evolve to require demonstrated heat emergency planning rather than treating it as exceptional.