Dairy cows in modern high-production systems are culled at a fraction of their natural lifespan, with lameness, mastitis, and reproductive failure driving premature culling and significant welfare compromise throughout their productive lives.
Dairy cow welfare is compromised not by single dramatic events but by the cumulative burden of high-production metabolic demands, chronic lameness, and repeated reproductive cycling. A cow living with untreated lameness walks in constant pain; one with subclinical mastitis has ongoing udder inflammation that impairs daily comfort. The industry metric of early culling conceals the welfare cost — cows leave the herd not in good health but when their welfare and productivity have deteriorated to an economically defined threshold. Longevity-focused breeding and management is both welfare and economically rational.