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.
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
Our Partners
In-kind contributions
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