A Climate-Ready Future for Sheep Farming Worldwide

SheepHeatIT improves heat resilience in sheep through advanced breeding strategies and  innovative technologies to support climate-ready sheep farming.

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How Heat Stress Affects Sheep

Sheep farming is a cornerstone of food security, rural livelihoods, and cultural heritage, yet it is increasingly threatened by climate change. Rising global temperatures and more frequent extreme heat events are placing increasing pressure on sheep farming systems worldwide.

Reduced Fertility

Heat stress lowers reproductive performance in sheep, reducing fertility rates and breeding success.

Lower Milk and Meat Production

High temperatures significantly decrease milk yield and meat production.

Declining Product Quality

Heat stress negatively affects the quality of milk and meat, reducing market value.

Increased Mortality Risk

Extreme heat raises animal mortality rates and compromises overall herd survival.

Animal Welfare Under Pressure

Chronic heat stress leads to serious welfare concerns and physiological strain in sheep.

Economic Threat to Farmers

Combined productivity losses are pushing farms toward higher financial risk and instability.

Building Heat-Resilient Sheep Breeding Pathways

SheepHeatIT is a four-year Horizon Europe project, focused on supporting climate-ready sheep farming through advanced breeding strategies for improved heat resilience. The project will collect and analyse large-scale phenotype and genotype data from commercial herds, identify genetic markers linked to heat resilience, and translate scientific results into breeding strategies, protocols and guidelines. Through collaboration with farmers, breeders, researchers, advisors, industry actors and policymakers, SheepHeatIT will support the wider uptake of sustainable and climate-smart sheep breeding practices.

Smart Solutions

Herd Heat Resistance Score (iHRS) & Decision-Support Tool

Extreme heat raises animal mortality rates and compromises overall herd survival.

Information Technology Centre Platform (ITCP)

Open-access platform hosting project data, protocols, results and tools for wider use by researchers, breeders and stakeholders.

SheepHeatIT in Numbers

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Countries

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Project partners

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Sheep targeted for phenotype and genotype data collection

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Sheep breeds across diverse regions

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Open-access Information Technology Centre Platform

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New SNP-based selection index for heat resilience

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Targeted increase in herd heat resistance score

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In-kind contributions

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Yehoshav A. Ben Meir, PhD
Researcher of Dairy Cattle Nutrition
Department of Ruminant Science, Institute of Animal Science
Agriculture Research Organization – Volcani Institute
 

   Climate change is increasing the frequency of extreme heat events, exposing sheep production systems to conditions they were not bred to withstand. Heat stress reduces animal welfare, productivity, and farm profitability, threatening an important source of food and income for many rural communities across Europe and worldwide. At the same time, breeders still lack reliable tools to identify animals that are naturally more resilient to heat. SheepHeatIT brings together researchers, breeding organisations, and technology developers to change this. By combining large-scale phenotyping, genomics, and information technologies, we will develop practical tools and breeding strategies that enable the selection of heat-resilient sheep. Our goal is simple: to help farmers build flocks that can better cope with future climates while maintaining productivity, improving animal welfare, and supporting sustainable sheep farming.