Dairy cow reproductive management involves multiple welfare considerations from artificial insemination to calving support.
Reproductive management in dairy cattle involves repeated hormonal interventions, artificial insemination, pregnancy monitoring, and intensive calving management that each carry welfare implications. The genetic pressure for high milk yield has inadvertently reduced fertility, requiring increasingly intensive reproductive management to maintain annual calving intervals. Welfare-centred reproductive management minimises unnecessary intervention, uses skilled and gentle technique for all procedures, ensures adequate calving supervision and support, and monitors cows carefully in the post-calving period for metabolic disease. The welfare of dairy cows must be assessed across their entire reproductive life, not just peak milk production.