The dry period — the 6-8 weeks before calving when dairy cows stop producing milk — is a critical welfare window. Nutritional management, housing conditions, and social stability during this period directly determine health and welfare outcomes through and beyond calving.
Dry cows that enter the calving box in poor body condition or with elevated liver fat scores face a much higher risk of post-calving metabolic disease. Fatty liver syndrome causes lethargy, reduced appetite, and in severe cases liver failure. The welfare costs of preventable metabolic disease — pain, reduced mobility, prolonged illness — all originate in dry cow management decisions. Overcrowded dry cow housing prevents adequate lying time and social stability. Farms that invest in spacious, well-bedded dry cow facilities with appropriate nutrition show dramatically lower fresh cow disease rates. Dry cow welfare is upstream welfare investment with downstream welfare and productivity returns.