Mastitis is the most common and costly disease of dairy cows worldwide, causing significant pain and representing a major welfare challenge in dairy farming.
Mastitis causes genuine, often severe pain. The inflamed udder is hot, swollen and tender - severely affected cows show clear signs of discomfort when walking or being touched. Chronic cases may last weeks or months. Subclinical mastitis, though lacking visible clinical signs, causes ongoing immune activation and tissue damage that impairs welfare even when cows appear outwardly normal. High mastitis rates are both a welfare failure and an indicator of management problems. The best welfare outcomes come from prevention - good milking hygiene, housing that keeps cows clean, appropriate dry cow therapy and rapid identification and treatment of new cases. Automatic milking systems offer promising early detection capabilities.