Average dairy cow productive lifespan has declined to 2-3 lactations in intensive systems. Improving longevity through health management and genetics improves welfare while reducing the environmental cost of cow replacement.
Dairy cow longevity is a welfare issue because early culling often follows periods of significant health challenge and suffering: the diseases that most commonly cause premature culling are lameness, which causes chronic pain, and mastitis, which causes acute inflammation and pain. A cow that produces only two lactations before being culled has often done so because health problems accumulated faster than management could address them. Improving longevity means reducing the health burden that shortens productive life — and reducing that health burden means reducing suffering. The welfare and sustainability case for longevity-focused dairy management are aligned, providing both ethical and economic arguments for reform.