Mastitis—inflammation of the mammary gland—is the most common and economically significant disease in dairy cattle, causing significant pain and welfare compromise alongside production losses. A welfare-centred approach integrates prevention, early detection, and appropriate treatment.
Clinical mastitis causes localised pain, systemic inflammation, fever, and in severe cases, toxaemia and death. Pain assessment studies consistently demonstrate that cows with mastitis show elevated pain scores, reduced lying time (consistent with lying-induced udder pain), reduced feed intake, and lower milk yield per se beyond infection effects. Chronic subclinical mastitis causes persistent low-grade inflammation and may involve chronic pain, though assessment is challenging. Untreated or inadequately treated mastitis causes prolonged suffering.
Mastitis pathogens are classified as contagious (cow-to-cow transmission: Staphylococcus aureus, Streptococcus agalactiae) or environmental (Streptococcus uberis, Escherichia coli, Klebsiella spp.). Contagious mastitis requires teat-to-teat transmission control through milking hygiene; environmental mastitis requires housing and bedding management to reduce environmental pathogen burden. Somatic cell count (SCC) monitoring identifies subclinical mastitis at herd level; individual cow recording identifies chronic cases.
NSAIDs (flunixin meglumine, ketoprofen, meloxicam) significantly improve welfare outcomes in clinical mastitis, reducing fever, pain, and inflammation. Evidence shows that NSAID treatment alongside antibiotic therapy improves cow welfare, feed intake, and recovery rates. NSAID treatment of clinical mastitis is ethically mandated—withholding pain relief from cows with clinical mastitis is increasingly considered a welfare failing. Meloxicam has particularly good evidence for mastitis pain management in cattle.
The UK Five-Point Plan provides a widely adopted prevention framework: post-milking teat disinfection (dipping or spraying with germicidal solutions); dry cow therapy (antibiotic and/or teat sealant at drying off); prompt culling of chronically infected cows; good milking hygiene and machine maintenance; and regular milk recording with SCC monitoring. Implementation of all five points consistently reduces mastitis incidence, improving both welfare and farm economics.
Housing conditions directly affect environmental mastitis incidence. Straw-bedded cubicles with clean, dry lying areas; sand bedding (low pathogen load); appropriate cubicle dimensions; regular manure scraping from passageways; and adequate ventilation reducing ammonia and humidity all reduce environmental pathogen pressure. The transition period around calving carries highest mastitis risk—specific attention to maternity pen hygiene dramatically affects early lactation mastitis incidence.