Reproductive management in dairy cows involves complex welfare trade-offs between fertility treatments, reproductive stress, and the welfare implications of repeated pregnancy across shortened productive lives.
Dairy cow reproductive management creates welfare burdens that are rarely considered in public discourse about dairy welfare. The hormonal interventions required to maintain fertility in high-yielding cows involve repeated handling, injections, and physiological manipulation. Failed pregnancies represent wasted reproductive effort. The relentless cycle of pregnancy, birth, separation and re-insemination is itself a welfare challenge. Approaches that reduce intervention frequency - extended lactations, improved transition management to maintain body condition and oestrus expression, and selection for naturally fertile cattle - reduce both the stress of intervention and the reproductive failures that generate repeated handling cycles.