Extreme cold events, blizzards, and polar vortex intrusions expose farm animals to hypothermia, frostbite, and starvation risk, particularly in outdoor and extensive farming systems.
Extreme cold presents welfare emergencies that extensive and outdoor farming systems are particularly vulnerable to. Neonatal livestock mortality during cold snaps is one of the highest-impact welfare events on farms, yet prevention through adequate shelter, lambing and farrowing timing, and veterinary preparedness is well understood. The 2021 Texas crisis demonstrated how infrastructure failure during unprecedented cold cascades into mass animal welfare emergencies. Resilient farm infrastructure, emergency feed reserves, and clear welfare emergency protocols form the essential preparation.