Lameness is the most economically costly and welfare-significant health problem in UK dairy herds, with proven interventions that make the business and welfare case for improvement identical.
Dairy cow lameness is a welfare crisis in plain sight. The fact that 20-30% of dairy cows are lame at any given time in UK herds represents millions of individual animals experiencing chronic pain that impairs their ability to stand, move, feed, and engage in normal behaviour. The business case for lameness prevention is as strong as the welfare case - lameness costs hundreds of pounds per cow per year in lost production. The gap between knowing how to prevent lameness and actually doing so consistently reflects management capacity, investment in cow tracks and cubicle design, and the priority given to welfare monitoring in farm management culture.