Modern dairy cows have very short productive lives compared to their natural lifespan. Improving longevity is both a welfare priority and an economic benefit for producers.
Dairy cow welfare is fundamentally linked to longevity — a cow that is culled after one or two lactations due to lameness, infertility, or metabolic disease has experienced a productive life filled with chronic health challenges. Lameness prevention through hoof trimming programs, surface management, and cow comfort improvements is the single highest-impact intervention for both welfare and longevity. Transition cow management, covering the 3 weeks before and after calving, determines metabolic health for the entire lactation. Body condition scoring, preventive veterinary care, and nutrition optimization during this period dramatically reduce disease incidence. High-producing cows making welfare improvements economically challenging is a real tension — genetic selection for health traits alongside production is the long-term solution.