‘Can They Take the Heat?’—The Egyptian Climate and Its Effects on Livestock

Abstract

Egypt already has conditions in summer that cause heat stress for livestock, and predicted climate changes suggest that these will be exacerbated over the course of this century. As well, extreme climatic events make the mitigation of climate change difficult but important to understand. Apart from neonates, farm animals have upper critical temperatures in the region of 25–30 °C, whereas temperatures in summer regularly exceed 40 °C for prolonged periods. The temperature and humidity data were collected half hourly to calculate Temperature Humidity Indices and demonstrate that Egyptian livestock at two centers of livestock production in the country would experience heat stress in summer for extended periods of each day. The impact of rising temperatures on livestock in Egypt was reviewed, where extensive resources to mitigate the impact are not often available. It was found that, although there are some prospects to mitigate some heat stress, by using agroforestry systems of production for example, these are unlikely to have a major impact, and reduced food security may ensue over the course of this century.

Keywords

• climate change
• Egypt
• livestock
• heat stress
• behaviour
• production