Heat stress (HS) is an annual environmental issue which negatively affects a variety of production parameters including milk yield and composition, growth, and reproduction. However, precisely studying HS requires expensive climate-controlled facilities; infrastructure inaccessible to most researchers. Alternative low cost methods to study HS in dairy cows would benefit HS research. Thus, study objectives were to explore the efficacy of an electric heat blanket (EHB) as an alternative method to model HS and to determine whether EHB-induced hyperthermia affects production parameters similarly to natural HS. Lactating Holstein cows (n = 8) were housed in individual box-stalls and allowed to acclimate (3 d). The trial consisted of 2 experimental periods (P). During P1 (3 d), cows were fed ad libitum and housed in thermoneutral conditions for baseline data collection. During P2 (7 d) cows were fitted with an EHB consisting of 12 infrared heating pads as a heat source (Thermotex Therapy Systems Ltd. Calgary, AB, Canada). Cows were milked twice daily (0600 and 1800 h). Rectal temperature (Tr) and respiration rate (RR) were obtained twice daily (0600 and 1800 h) during both P1 and P2. Overall, there was an increase compared with the P1 baseline in Tr and RR at both 0600 h and 1800 h (1.0°C and 25 bpm, 1.2°C and 29 bpm, respectively P < 0.01). The EHB decreased DMI (25%; P < 0.05) by the end of P2. Similarly, milk yield was decreased (21%; P < 0.05) by d 7 of P2. Milk protein tended to decrease (4.4%; P = 0.07), while milk urea nitrogen increased during P2 (33%; P < 0.01) relative to P1. No other differences were observed in milk composition (P > 0.10). No differences in circulating glucose levels were observed during P2 (P > 0.10) when compared with P1. However, nonesterified fatty acids tended to be slightly increased in P2 compared with P1 (55%; P = 0.09). In summary, results indicate that employing the EHB affects production parameters similarly to natural HS and thus is an effective and inexpensive research tool to evaluate the biological consequences of HS in lactating dairy cows.