Review of issues related to heat stress in intensively housed pigs

The behavior and physiology of intensively housed animals will be negatively affected when the environmental temperature is outside of their thermo-neutral zone (TNZ). It is likely that the production efficiency, welfare, health and reproductive capacity of the animals will be reduced. Traditional technologies, such as the use of different cooling system and better building design can be used to alleviate the negative effects of heat stress on animals. However, there are real opportunities to further develop climate control technologies and create intelligent environmental control systems that will be able to predict and therefore control both the responses of animals and the buildings in relation to selected control interventions