Drought creates compounding welfare challenges for livestock, including water scarcity, heat stress, forage shortages, and reduced veterinary access. Good drought management can significantly reduce animal suffering.
Drought welfare management requires difficult decisions made under economic pressure: whether to sell stock early, how much supplementary feed is affordable, when to euthanize animals too weak to recover. The welfare-centered approach puts the animal's condition first - accepting financial loss from early destocking rather than holding animals that are declining in condition. The hardest cases are when farmers cannot afford feed and cannot sell stock at viable prices: this is where welfare support systems, including emergency feed subsidies and financial assistance for humane euthanasia, play a critical role. Climate change is making droughts more frequent and severe in many regions, making drought welfare planning a growing priority for farmers, governments, and welfare organizations alike.