Modern dairy cows are producing far more milk than their predecessors, but this comes at the cost of metabolic disease, lameness, and dramatically shortened lives.
High-yielding dairy cows are in a chronic state of metabolic stress. The body prioritises milk production over maintenance, causing muscle wasting, immune suppression, and susceptibility to disease. Lameness causes chronic pain and reduces feeding ability, creating a vicious cycle. Early culling means cows are killed at a fraction of their natural lifespan, often when they are still capable of producing milk but no longer economically viable. The welfare cost of maximising yield rather than longevity is enormous.