Metritis — acute uterine infection in the first two weeks after calving — affects 10 to 20 per cent of dairy cows and causes significant welfare harm through pain, fever, and systemic illness. Prompt antibiotic treatment reduces severity and supports uterine recovery.
Cows with metritis experience pain from uterine inflammation, systemic toxaemia causing weakness and reduced feed intake, and the malaise of high fever — a multi-dimensional welfare burden compounded by the physical demands of early lactation. Untreated or inadequately treated metritis may progress to toxic metritis with endotoxaemia, septicaemia, and death. Welfare-centred fresh cow monitoring identifies metritis cases within 3 to 5 days of calving through daily temperature recording and discharge assessment, enabling prompt treatment before systemic deterioration. Pain management is increasingly recognised as an important component of treatment alongside antibiotics.