Heat stress reduces animal welfare and production across all livestock species, and investment in heat abatement technology is both an economic and animal welfare imperative under climate change.
Heat stress in livestock causes a cascade of welfare harms including reduced feed intake, altered behavior, immune suppression, reproductive failure, and in extreme cases, death. As climate change intensifies, heat stress will affect larger proportions of livestock populations for longer periods. Investment in heat abatement technology — shade, evaporative cooling, ventilation, and genetic selection — is simultaneously an animal welfare intervention and an economic adaptation strategy. The alignment between welfare and economic incentives creates a practical pathway for improvement, but many smaller producers lack capital for necessary infrastructure investments.