Dairy Cow Welfare & Udder Health

Introduction Maintaining consumers trust is essential to ensure the future of the dairy industry. Production of high quality milk from healthy, well cared for animals is the goal of most dairy farmers. However, as fewer and fewer consumers are familiar with dairy farming, they have become more skeptical about the ability of farmers to properly care for farm animals. Public attention about the welfare of dairy cows has included concerns about animal health, prevalence of lameness, handling of non-ambulatory cows, animal handling and the impact of housing on cow health and longevity. Additional welfare concerns often include the use of management practices such as tail docking and mitigation of pain. The purpose of this paper is to review the impact of mastitis and practices associated with mastitis control on dairy cow welfare.