Average dairy cow productive life has shortened to 2-3 lactations in most commercial systems — extending longevity through welfare improvements benefits both cows and farm economics.
Dairy cow longevity is a welfare metric that aligns with economic interests — longer-lived cows have lower replacement costs and demonstrate better health management. Short productive lives reflect underlying chronic welfare problems: lameness causing pain and early culling, metabolic disease from production demands exceeding physiological capacity, reproductive failure from energy deficit, and mastitis from udder health management failures. Cows in systems prioritizing longevity through improved housing, nutrition management, lameness treatment, and selective breeding for health traits achieve better welfare across their lives. The welfare cost of premature culling is not only the final slaughter but the accumulated pain and functional limitation that precedes it. Longevity is therefore both a welfare outcome indicator and a welfare intervention goal in dairy production systems.