DOHAD mechanisms are shared by livestock. Worldwide, animal breeding activities play a major role in the reduction of poverty and the improvement of food security. We also currently face a growing need for animal products, to provide the necessary protein sources for human populations. Moreover, with the current global climatic changes, the breeding industry is required to adapt to the increasing incidence of biological hazards including temperature rise, increasing risks and severity of draughts, river flood disasters and decreased crop yields. In terms of animal production, these fluctuations are likely to cause irregularity in the quantity of forage and cereal yield and to induce quantitative and qualitative variations in the diet provided to the animals with short or even long term periods of nutritional restriction. In animals raised for reproduction, these can result in long term physiological effects on animal health and reproductive parameters as well as on the quality and quantity of products. Through a better understanding of the effects and of the epigenetic mechanisms involved in DOHaD, in addition to the careful use of animal genetic selection, both animal production and welfare can be improved and some of the negative effects of feedstuff restriction could be prevented.