Bovine Fatty Liver: Metabolic Welfare in Transition Dairy Cows

Key Facts

• Fatty liver affects up to 40-50% of dairy cows to some degree in the transition period
• Risk factors include over-conditioning at drying off and negative energy balance in early lactation
• Severe fatty liver causes elevated liver enzymes, immune suppression, prolonged ketosis, and increased disease susceptibility
• Clinical signs are often non-specific: reduced feed intake, weight loss, and poor recovery from concurrent diseases
• Prevention through transition cow management is the primary welfare strategy — treatment options are limited

Welfare Considerations

Fatty liver in dairy cows represents a significant but often invisible welfare problem. Unlike clinical ketosis or displaced abomasum, fatty liver rarely presents as an obvious welfare emergency. Yet the systemic effects — immune suppression leading to increased mastitis and metritis, prolonged negative energy balance, and hepatic dysfunction — cause sustained welfare suffering across many cows. The welfare burden is largely invisible because affected cows continue to produce milk while experiencing significant metabolic stress. Prevention through body condition management at drying off (targeting 3.0-3.25) and transition nutrition is the only effective welfare strategy.

What You Can Do

• Target body condition score at drying off to 3.0-3.25 to prevent fat mobilization in early lactation
• Feed a high-fiber transition diet with controlled energy in the close-up period
• Monitor liver enzyme activity in fresh cows using on-farm blood sampling to detect affected animals
• Provide propylene glycol to at-risk cows in the first week of lactation as a gluconeogenic precursor
• Review dry cow management practices in herds with high ketosis and early lactation disease incidence