Cattle Welfare Benchmarking: Lameness and Mastitis Indicators

Overview of cattle welfare benchmarking using lameness, mastitis, and other outcome indicators.

Key Facts

Lameness prevalence benchmarking is the most established cattle welfare benchmarking tool
Mastitis incidence and cell counts are established benchmarks with welfare implications
Mortality and culling rates are population welfare indicators across dairy herds
Benchmarking enables farms to identify welfare priority areas relative to peers
National dairy welfare databases are building population-level welfare evidence in several countries

Welfare Considerations

Cattle welfare benchmarking using lameness, mastitis, and mortality indicators provides objective evidence of welfare performance that enables peer comparison and improvement tracking. Lameness benchmarking in dairy cattle is particularly well-developed, with targets and improvement programmes linked to data. Building population-level welfare databases is an important long-term welfare science investment. Making benchmarking data actionable through improvement support maximises its welfare impact.

What You Can Do

Support dairy welfare benchmarking schemes and data-sharing initiatives
Advocate for welfare benchmarking requirements in dairy certification schemes
Choose dairy products from farms demonstrating welfare improvement through benchmarking