The transition period around calving is the highest welfare-risk period for dairy cows, with metabolic diseases causing significant suffering in under-managed herds.
Transition period management in dairy cattle represents one of the most concentrated welfare risks in dairy farming. The metabolic challenges of late pregnancy, parturition, and early lactation create conditions where multiple diseases can occur simultaneously — milk fever, retained fetal membranes, metritis, ketosis, and lameness can all cascade from poor transition nutrition. These conditions cause significant suffering and reduce cow longevity. Evidence-based transition nutrition protocols using body condition scoring, prepartum diet management, and monitoring have dramatically reduced disease rates in well-managed herds, demonstrating that high welfare transition management is achievable.