Farm Animal Welfare

Cattle Mastitis Prevention and Welfare

Mastitis is the most common disease of dairy cows, causing significant pain and welfare harm affecting millions of animals.

Key Facts

Mastitis affects an estimated 25-40% of dairy cows in the UK each year
Clinical mastitis causes visible inflammation, abnormal milk and systemic illness in severe cases
Subclinical mastitis is more common and causes production loss without obvious clinical signs
Dry cow therapy including selective dry cow treatment reduces mastitis incidence
Milking machine hygiene, teat disinfection and cow hygiene are the primary prevention measures

Welfare Considerations

Mastitis causes acute and chronic pain on a massive scale in the dairy industry. Reduction through improved hygiene, housing and milking management represents one of the highest-welfare impact opportunities in dairy farming.

What You Can Do

Advocate for mastitis incidence targets as a welfare requirement in dairy certification
Support research into mastitis prevention strategies appropriate to different production systems
Ask dairy supply chains about their mastitis incidence monitoring and reduction programmes