Heat stress in livestock causes significant welfare harm and is increasing in severity and frequency as climate change raises average and peak temperatures globally.
Heat stress represents a growing welfare emergency as climate change increases the frequency and severity of extreme heat events affecting livestock worldwide. Heat stress causes genuine suffering — animals experience hyperthermia, respiratory distress, cardiovascular strain, and in severe cases death. The welfare impact is not limited to extreme events: chronic mild heat stress across summer months reduces immune function, increases infection susceptibility, causes behavioural restriction as animals seek shade, and imposes reproductive failure. Intensive livestock systems with high animal densities generate substantial metabolic heat that compounds ambient temperature stress. Mitigation through ventilation systems, misting, shade provision, and cooling water access is technically straightforward but requires infrastructure investment that many producers in lower-income settings lack. Climate change makes heat stress management an increasingly central welfare obligation rather than a seasonal consideration.