Impacts and adaptations to climate change in ruminants

Climate change will affect ruminant systems through direct effects on animal performance, and indirect effects on pasture and forage availability. As impacts will be very unequal amongst different regions and production systems, the ruminant sector will require adaptation strategies that are tailored to each specific context. This review paper examines, first, the main impacts of climate change on animal and forage productivity, followed by a description of the main adaptation strategies to climate change and finished, by showing different modelling examples at the fam level of how climate change will impact different production systems, and the extent some adaptation strategies can ameliorate these impacts. Heat stress is the most important factor affecting ruminant production systems under climate change conditions, resulting in productivity losses and changes in product quality. For forage, productivity and quality of the feed is expected to alter with changes in concentrations of carbon dioxide, changes in temperature and rainfall patterns and stressors such as ozone concentration. The extent heat stress and variables affecting feed production can affect ruminant production systems will depend on complex interactions between specific ambient conditions, species, breeds, animal stage or production systems. Moreover, impacts and adaptations to climate change at the animal and feed level will translate in different ways when the farm level and production system is considered.