Dairy cows on high-performance production schedules face metabolic welfare challenges from the extreme energy demands of milk production, requiring careful nutritional management to prevent chronic disease.
The metabolic welfare of high-production dairy cows is challenged by a fundamental imbalance between what they have been bred to produce and what their bodies can physiologically sustain without welfare compromise. Careful nutritional management can significantly reduce the frequency and severity of metabolic disease, but the underlying genetic pressure for extreme production creates inherent welfare vulnerability that management alone cannot fully address.