Leaky gut and the warning signs of heat-stressed dairy cattle

Abstract

Since pre-industrial times, global surface temperatures have risen considerably and most of the warming occurred in the past 40 years. Reflective of this global trend, temperatures in the United States northeast region have also increased, and projections indicate additional warming that can reach up to 40.6°F by 2100, and estimate an increase in the intensity and frequency of extreme heat weather events, and a decrease in the intensity and frequency of cold extremes for North America. If these predictions come to fruition, higher occurrence of periods of extremely high temperatures will most likely affect both animal and human health, and will increase the incidence of heat-related illnesses. Due to this, heat stress will likely become more prevalent in the future. And indeed, the effects of climate change on production systems have often been highlighted as one of the main challenges currently faced by crop and animal-based systems. This is important to United States dairy systems because of the inherently increased heat production of highproducing dairy cows, which makes them more sensitive to warmer climates and heat fluctuations. Therefore, a better understanding of the mechanisms by which heat stress compromises the production of dairy products is important because it will allow us to develop heat stress alleviation therapies.