Heat stress in dairy cattle causes significant welfare harm through hyperthermia, reduced feed intake, and metabolic disruption, with major implications for cow health and longevity.
Heat stress causes acute and chronic welfare harm. In acute heat events, cattle experience discomfort, reduced movement, and physiological stress. Chronic summer heat stress reduces immune function, reproductive success, and longevity. Climate change is extending the heat stress season in previously mild regions, making mitigation infrastructure that was discretionary increasingly essential. The welfare-economic alignment - heat stress reduces milk production and reproductive performance - creates business case arguments alongside welfare ones.