Cattle Metabolic Disease and Transition Welfare

Metabolic diseases including ketosis, hypocalcaemia, and displaced abomasum cause significant suffering in transition dairy cows and are substantially preventable.

Key Facts

Subclinical ketosis affects an estimated 40-60% of dairy cows in early lactation
Hypocalcaemia (milk fever) affects 5-10% of cows around calving
Displaced abomasum requires surgical intervention and causes significant pain
Negative energy balance in early lactation is the root cause of most transition metabolic disease
Body condition management throughout the dry period is the most important preventive measure

Welfare Considerations

Transition cows experiencing metabolic disease suffer from nausea, weakness, and pain that significantly impairs welfare during an already demanding period. Subclinical ketosis causes chronic welfare compromise invisible to observation. Proactive transition management including body condition monitoring, appropriate dry cow nutrition, and prophylactic calcium supplementation can halve the incidence of clinical metabolic disease and substantially reduce subclinical welfare burden.

What You Can Do

Support dairy certification requiring documented transition cow management protocols
Advocate for transition welfare assessment as a core component of dairy farm auditing
Choose dairy from farms with known low metabolic disease rates
Support veterinary health planning that prioritises transition cow health
Encourage investment in monitoring technology including automated ketosis detection