Dairy cow longevity is both a welfare indicator and a sustainability metric. High culling rates signal welfare failures and represent a major ethical concern in modern dairying.
High culling rates are a systemic welfare failure indicator — they reveal that production systems are generating disease, injury, and chronic conditions at rates that make economic sense to replace rather than treat affected individuals. This creates a cycle where individual animal welfare is systematically deprioritized against replacement cost calculations. Dairy systems that prioritize longevity through genetic selection for health traits, improved housing, proactive herd health management, and treatment investment produce healthier cows with better welfare across longer, more productive lives. Longevity metrics should be standard in dairy welfare assessment, alongside lameness and mastitis prevalence, as meaningful outcome indicators.