Dairy Cow
Heat Stress

Over the past summer we have been working with Lallemand Animal Nutrition to monitor the risk of heat stress on several dairy farms in England. As in 2022 we assessed the risk of heat stress for both housed and grazing animals but covering more farms over a wider area of England. With the first frosts being reported we have now ended the data collection season. We will now be analysing the data from the entire season and later in the autumn we will be reporting the results to the Monitor farms, through a Linked In post and as a New post on this website.

We are continuing to monitor one farm in Australia (as it is summer there) and their data can be seen using the links below the map to see the full set of results for the farm. The detailed dashboards start with coloured dials showing the current short term (3h average) and long term (24h average) heat stress index. If the short term index is high then there will be changes in cow behaviour, such as shade seeking, reduced appetite, increased standing, panting etc. If the longer term, 24h Index is high then the animals are not able to ‘recover’ overnight and the stress will accumulate with bigger impacts on milk yields and fertility. The temperature and humidity (over 5 days) is shown next and then the long term trends in heat stress index.