Impact of climate change on dairy cattle and its mitigation

Atmospheric temperature of the earth has been increased due to cumulative effects of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere emitted from different industrial and agricultural activities of human. Intensification and increase frequency of thermal stress is the most prominent impact of global warming in dairy cattle resulting in different physiological, metabolic and production disturbances. Importance of thermal stress has been increased to the dairy farmers in tropical, subtropical and even in temperate region of the world due to atmospheric warming. Heat stress can impact animal production and profitability in dairy cattle by lowering feed intake, milk production and reproduction. There are a number of management and housing alterations that can be made to decrease the impact of heat stress. The challenge with these is to balance the investment cost versus the projected production and economic responses.