A sweltering mid-June day with temperatures topping 100 degrees spurred one of the largest livestock die-offs in recent Kansas history, [1] killing about 2,000 cattle.

[2] (1) Twice that many cattle perished in fierce 2011 Iowa heat, with thousands more dying in neighboring states.(2) And a July 1995 heat wave took a similar toll in the Farm Belt.

(3) It also suppresses their immune systems. And that is likely to happen more often as the climate warms, particularly in the Midwest and Great Plains where heat, drought, fire and flood are challenging long-standing farm practices, [3] .

[4] Yet premature cattle mortality could be mitigated by a centuries-old land management approach used by Native tribes on what were once millions of acres of oak savannas stretching from Texas to Minnesota, according to research at the University of Missouri.

[5] "Silvopasture” could also be an effective and inexpensive way for farmers to protect livestock against climate extremes while improving farm forest conditions for aesthetic, ecological and economic purposes. Experts say it’s a win-win for farmers, [6] , but not to the point where grasses would be stressed for light. .

“The idea is there is a sweet spot where we can manage pastureland for trees, forage and livestock,” said Ashley Conway-Anderson, an assistant research professor at the University of Missouri [7] who is working to restore silvopasture landscapes at a research farm in the northeast Ozarks. The 1,200-acre property is predominantly woodland forest, with roughly 230 acres being managed for pasture and forage production.

In that way, the farm is largely representative of what remains of the Midwestern oak savanna, where wooded areas “aren’t really being managed at all,” Conway-Anderson said in an interview. “Livestock are kept out of the forests," she said, "and there’s nothing happening to improve those areas for other purposes."

[8] Farming has oversimplified animals experience of seeking food; in some operations the animals only visit the feed bin for grain or hay.

Increasingly, however, scientists have found that silvopasture can be an important tool for farmers to beat back climate change — [9] whether you choose to graze sheep in a Christmas tree farm, move cows through a walnut plantation, or graze chickens though an apple orchard, several key principles apply. Silvopasturing could also save farmers millions of dollars in reduced costs for water misters and artificial shade structures that are increasingly necessary to protect cattle from heat stress.

Acute heat waves in Middle America, some of which can last for days and weeks, are becoming more common under a warming climate, scientists say. So too are quick, unpredictable hot and cold snaps that livestock is not naturally adapted to handle.

[10] Trees in silvopasture systems provide livestock with protection from sun and wind, which can increase animal comfort and improve production.

(1) Rangelands across the West, too, are seeing the effects of warming, particularly as drought and fire consume millions of acres annually.(2) Experts say such “thermal comfort” zones are shifting, making cattle production more difficult and expensive in Southern Plains states like Texas and Oklahoma, but also in parts of Kansas, Missouri, Iowa and Wisconsin.  (3) “Economic losses are incurred by the U.S. livestock industries because farm animals are raised in locations and seasons where effective temperature conditions venture outside their zone of thermal comfort,” the researchers wrote. (4) According to Conway-Anderson, silvopasturing where pastures are interspersed with deciduous trees and pine stands offers benefits on both sides of the climate equation. They restore forest health through carbon absorption — a core tenet of what’s known as “regenerative agriculture” — while also protecting animals and crops from extreme heat. [11]

“It’s adaptation in the sense that animals, like humans, are experiencing the worsening effects of our changing climate,” she said.

Healthy livestock may adapt to changing conditions over decades, she noted, but when climate change-induced extreme events cause dramatic changes in temperature, humidity or land conditions, animals don’t have time to adapt. Such events “are occurring with greater intensity, and I think it’s only going to become more of an issue,” Conway-Anderson said.