Effects of heat stress mitigation strategies on feedlot cattle performance, environmental, and economic outcomes in a hot climate

The increase in average global temperatures presents a challenge for the beef industry, especially in the feedlot sector where heat stress is a major animal welfare and economic concern. Shade is one of the most practical methods to mitigate heat stress in feedlot cattle. An experiment was conducted as a completely randomized design with 1 560 Bos indicus bulls (initial BW=287 kg) where three shade structure types were used to investigate the effects of different heat stress mitigation methods on cattle growth performance, environmental, and economic outcomes using live animal data, and a partial lifecycle assessment using the Integrated Farm System Model. The live animal portion of the experiment was done once a year over a 2-year period with three pen replications per treatment per year (n = 6 per treatment). Four shade structures used were conventional shade (SC; steel shade 1.8 m² of shade/animal), double conventional shade (DS; steel shade 3.6 m² of shade/animal), dome structures without fans (DSA; 8.5 m²/animal with 98% solar radiation blocked), and domes with fans (DCA; DSA plus three large sized low-speed fans). Each pen held 65 bulls in an area of 570 m². Live animal data were analyzed as a completely randomized design using the GLM procedure of SAS (version 9.4) with shade type as fixed effect, pen as the experimental unit, and repetition (year) considered a random effect. Cattle housed under DCA had 22 and 20 kg heavier final body BW (P < 0.05) compared to those housed under SC and DS, respectively. Final BW of DCA and DSA cattle were similar (P > 0.05). Average daily gain, feed efficiency, and hot carcass weight were greater (P < 0.05) for cattle housed under DCA compared to the rest of the shade types. Dry matter intake was not affected (P > 0.05). When treatment results were extrapolated to the annual feedlot turnover of 209,700 animals, cattle in DSA and DCA versus SC and DS had 3-8% reductions in greenhouse gas and ammonia emission intensities. Compared to SC, DCA increased profitability by $29.66/animal, followed by DSA and DS with profit increases of $5.79 and $8.90/animal, respectively. Overall, the implementation of advanced shade structures improved cattle performance and profitability while reducing the environmental impact of beef production.