Lameness affects 25% or more of dairy cows in many high-production systems, causing chronic pain, reduced longevity, and significant welfare compromise across hundreds of millions of animals.
Dairy lameness represents perhaps the single largest source of pain in farm animal production by total animal-hours. A cow that is lame for 35 days experiences constant pain with every step for over a month — pain that is often inadequately treated because of the cost and challenge of handling large animals. The normalization of 25% lameness prevalence reflects inadequate welfare standards in the industry.