Climate change is intensifying heat stress risks for livestock globally. Advanced cooling strategies — beyond fans and sprinklers — are becoming essential welfare infrastructure for cattle, pigs, and poultry in warming regions.
Heat stress causes significant suffering in farm animals — elevated core temperature, reduced feed intake, immune suppression, and behavioral indicators of distress. As climate change pushes heat events to greater frequency and intensity, heat stress management transitions from seasonal mitigation to year-round welfare infrastructure in many regions. Operations that invest in comprehensive cooling — shade, evaporative cooling, nocturnal feeding, and genetic selection where appropriate — protect animals from preventable suffering and maintain production viability. The welfare and economic arguments for heat stress management align, making investment in cooling infrastructure one of the more tractable large-scale welfare improvements available.