Heat stress causes significant welfare impacts in cattle globally. Understanding the physiological effects and management strategies protects cattle welfare during hot weather.
Heat stress causes genuine suffering in cattle and has both acute and long-term welfare consequences. The thermal discomfort of heat stress drives behavioral changes including bunching, shade-seeking, and reduced feeding that impair normal welfare. Severe heat stress causes physiological strain, reduced immune function, and in extreme cases heat stroke and death. The generational effects - heat-stressed cows producing immunologically compromised calves - demonstrate how welfare failures cascade across productive cycles. With climate change increasing the frequency and intensity of heat events, heat stress management is an increasingly critical welfare issue in cattle production globally.