Ketosis is one of the most common metabolic diseases of high-producing dairy cows in early lactation, causing reduced milk production, reproductive failure, and in severe cases neurological signs, while representing a major preventable welfare burden.
Clinical ketosis causes genuine suffering — depression, inappetence, and in severe cases the neurological signs of nervous ketosis including circling, blindness, and aggressive behaviour. Even subclinical ketosis, invisible to casual observation, causes chronic discomfort through metabolic imbalance and impairs immune function, increasing susceptibility to other diseases. The welfare significance of ketosis extends beyond direct suffering to its role as a gateway disease that predisposes to mastitis, metritis, and lameness. High-incidence herds carry a compounding welfare burden where metabolic disease creates cascading health problems. Treating ketosis as a symptom of inadequate transition management, rather than an inevitable consequence of high milk production, enables prevention.