GLOSSARY
Heat Stress
Heat stress is the state where an animal or person absorbs and produces more heat than it can shed. In livestock it directly cuts productivity: heat-stressed poultry eat less and grow slower, dairy cows eat less and give less milk.
Also known as: Thermal stress · Heat load
What heat stress is
Every warm-blooded body produces heat continuously and must shed it to stay in its comfort zone. When the environment is too hot — or too humid for evaporative cooling to work — heat accumulates faster than it can leave. That state is heat stress, and the body responds by cutting whatever generates heat: activity, feeding, and in livestock, production.
Why it matters commercially
Heat stress is one of the best-documented productivity drains in animal agriculture. Poultry under heat stress eat less and convert feed worse; dairy cows visit the feed rail less often, and intake lost today is milk lost tomorrow. The signs are visible to any farmer: panting, spread wings, more standing, bunching in shaded spots.
How misting addresses it
High-pressure mist lowers the air temperature in the animals’ zone by up to 10°C while sub-10-micron droplets evaporate before landing — feed and bedding stay dry, which barns strictly require. The applied detail lives in our guides on poultry heat stress and dairy barn cooling, and in the PT Greenfields Indonesia case study.