Cattle Farming

Cattle Mastitis Prevention and Pain Management

Mastitis is the most economically significant and welfare-important disease in dairy cattle, requiring prevention, early detection, and adequate pain management.

Key Facts

Mastitis affects over a third of dairy cows and is the leading cause of culling
Somatic cell count in milk provides a herd-level indicator of mastitis prevalence
Acute clinical mastitis causes severe pain comparable to mastitis pain in humans
NSAIDs reduce inflammation and pain significantly but are under-used in mastitis treatment
Dry cow therapy prophylaxis is controversial, with blanket treatment raising AMR concerns

Welfare Considerations

Mastitis causes intense, acute pain from inflammation and distension of the udder. Cows with acute mastitis show obvious signs of pain including kicking, reduced feed intake, and systemic depression. Despite this, many mastitis treatments do not include NSAIDs for pain relief, representing a significant welfare gap. Mandatory pain management requirements in mastitis treatment protocols would reduce suffering substantially.

What You Can Do

Support dairy welfare standards requiring pain management in clinical mastitis treatment
Advocate for NSAID use in mastitis treatment to be a mandatory welfare standard
Choose dairy products from farms with documented low mastitis incidence rates