Access to pasture for dairy cows is associated with significant welfare benefits including freedom of movement, natural grazing behaviour, and reduced lameness compared to year-round housed systems.
Pasture access represents one of the most significant welfare-positive differences between dairy production systems available to consumers and policymakers. Cows on pasture can express the full range of natural grazing, social, and locomotive behaviours that cubicle housing constrains. The freedom to walk, trot, and occasionally run across open space, to choose their position within the herd, to graze fresh grass at natural length, and to rest on soft ground all contribute to measurably better physical and psychological welfare. Lameness — the most prevalent and painful health problem in dairy cattle — is significantly less common in pasture-based herds, partly because soft ground imposes less concussive force on feet and legs than concrete, and partly because natural movement patterns differ from those imposed by cubicle layout. The welfare cost of year-round housing is not absolute — well-managed housed systems with excellent feeding, bedding, and stockperson care can achieve good welfare — but for most cows in most systems, access to pasture during the grazing season provides meaningful welfare improvements that are not replicated indoors.