Most dairy cows are culled by age five or six, far short of their potential 20-year lifespan. Understanding why cows leave herds early reveals much about dairy welfare priorities.
The short productive lifespan of commercial dairy cows is both a symptom and a driver of welfare compromise. Cows are culled early primarily because they develop conditions, particularly mastitis, lameness, and reproductive failure, that make continued production economically unviable. These conditions are themselves reflections of welfare compromise under intensive production systems. Cows pushed to their biological production limits experience metabolic stress and immune compromise that leads to the disease burden responsible for early culling. Higher-welfare dairy systems that moderate production intensity, provide better housing and nutrition, and invest in preventive health management achieve longer productive lifespans that benefit both animal welfare and farm economics through reduced replacement costs. Consumer interest in longevity as a welfare signal is growing and can drive meaningful farm-level change.