Dairy cows are highly social animals with complex herd hierarchies and friendship bonds, yet farm management often disrupts these relationships causing chronic stress.
The social life of dairy cows is more complex than typically appreciated in farming practice. Stable social groups where cows know and have established relationships with their herdmates show lower stress, better productivity, and lower rates of injury from aggression. Management decisions that repeatedly disrupt social groups - mixing cows for production reasons, culling companion animals, and separating mothers from calves - all impose social welfare costs. Stable group management is both a welfare improvement and often a productivity improvement.