Rising global temperatures are intensifying heat stress in livestock, creating a growing welfare crisis that intersects with climate change adaptation in agriculture. Addressing heat stress improves welfare and food security.
Heat stress in livestock causes genuine suffering - animals experiencing severe hyperthermia show distress behaviors, respiratory distress, and in extreme cases collapse and death. As climate change intensifies, heat stress will become a more prevalent and severe welfare problem across major livestock regions globally. The welfare response to climate-related heat stress requires both immediate mitigation (shade, cooling systems, water access, reduced stocking density during heat events) and longer-term adaptation (housing design, breed selection, management system changes). A world with significantly warmer temperatures will make some current livestock production systems increasingly welfare-incompatible, requiring honest reassessment of where and how food animals can be raised humanely.