Implementing pain management protocols for clinical mastitis significantly reduces welfare costs from one of the most common dairy cow diseases.
Clinical mastitis causes severe udder pain that affects a cow's willingness to move, eat, and produce milk. NSAID pain management, while adding cost, dramatically reduces suffering duration and severity. The welfare case is clear - mastitis is acutely painful and effective, affordable pain relief is available. Protocols requiring NSAID administration at mastitis detection as standard practice would transform mastitis welfare across the dairy industry.