Farm Animal Welfare

Cattle Welfare and Milk Fever Prevention

Milk fever (hypocalcaemia) around calving causes pain, recumbency, and metabolic complications. Prevention through nutrition management significantly reduces this welfare problem.

Key Facts

Milk fever affects 5-8% of dairy cows and causes recumbency, inability to rise, and death
Subclinical hypocalcaemia affects many more cows and impairs immune function and reproduction
Transition diet management including DCAB (dietary cation-anion balance) reduces risk
Calcium supplementation at calving is widely practised but not a substitute for prevention
Early treatment with intravenous calcium prevents progression to more severe disease

Welfare Considerations

Milk fever causes acute welfare harm and is largely preventable through nutritional management. Prevention is far superior to treatment from a welfare perspective, as affected cows experience significant pain and metabolic disruption.

What You Can Do

Support dairy farms with comprehensive transition cow nutrition programmes
Advocate for transition cow welfare monitoring in dairy certification
Learn about milk fever prevention and the role of DCAB management
Choose dairy from farms with low metabolic disease records