Heat stress in cattle causes significant suffering, production losses, and increasing mortality as global temperatures rise — a welfare problem that will worsen with climate change.
Heat stress in cattle causes genuine suffering that scales from discomfort to death depending on intensity and duration. Cattle unable to thermoregulate effectively experience the subjective equivalent of being trapped in extreme heat without relief — shade-seeking behavior, panting, and reduced activity all indicate aversive experience. Chronic mild heat stress over days reduces immune function, increases susceptibility to mastitis and other diseases, and impairs reproductive cycling — all welfare costs extending beyond the acute discomfort of individual hot days. As climate change increases the frequency and severity of heat waves, heat stress will become an increasingly significant welfare challenge across temperate farming regions that currently lack heat mitigation infrastructure.