Climate change is intensifying heat stress in livestock globally. Understanding the welfare impacts and management strategies is essential for protecting billions of animals from preventable suffering.
Heat stress in livestock causes genuine suffering that is often invisible because it affects the entire population simultaneously rather than producing individual sick animals that attract attention. A dairy barn full of heat-stressed cows is full of animals experiencing discomfort, reduced appetite, and physiological strain that compromises their health and welfare. The welfare cost of heat stress is amplified by the fact that breeding for high milk or meat production has created animals with higher metabolic heat production that are more susceptible to thermal stress than their ancestors. As climate change intensifies, heat stress will become one of the dominant welfare challenges in global livestock production.