Climate Change Cuts Milk Production, Even When Farmers Cool Their Cows

While recent studies have shown climate change will cut crop production, there has been less research into its impacts on livestock. Dairy farmers already know their cows are vulnerable to heat. What will more heat mean? In one of the most comprehensive assessments of heat’s impact on dairy cows, a study in the journal Science Advances finds one day of extreme heat can cut milk production by up to 10 percent.

The effects of that hot weather can last more than 10 days later, with efforts to keep cows cool being insufficient.

“Climate change will have wide-ranging impacts on what we eat and drink, including that cold glass of milk,” says one of the study’s co-authors Eyal Frank, an assistant professor at the Harris School of Public Policy. “Our study found that extreme heat leads to significant and lasting impacts on milk supply, and even the most high-tech, well-resourced farms are deploying adaptation strategies that may be an insufficient match to climate change.”