Cattle breeding choices profoundly affect individual and population welfare, with selection for health and longevity traits reducing lifetime suffering.
Cattle welfare is significantly influenced by breeding decisions made generations before individual animals are born. Selection for extreme milk yield without health traits has created dairy cows with elevated metabolic disease, mastitis, and lameness rates. Selection pressure for health traits including SCC resistance, fertility, and productive life reduces lifetime welfare burden across the herd. Crossbreeding programmes combining high-yield with constitution breeds show better welfare outcomes. Welfare-responsible breeding prioritises health traits alongside production performance.