A cross industry collaborative project has launched a new UK Dairy Cattle Welfare Strategy for 2023-2028.

The paper pulled together dairy farmers, vets and industry professionals through the Ruminant Health and Welfare (RH and W) group to help progress welfare by 2028. Its vice-chairman, Gwyn Jones, said the strategy was an update of a previous strategy aimed at improving the welfare of the national dairy herd, but importantly, had support right across all four home nations.

“The industry’s shared vision is for the UK dairy industry to demonstrate evidence-based progress in six key areas of cattle welfare by 2028,” said Mr Jones. “Ability to provide evidence of progress will assist in maintaining UK status as a global leader in dairy cattle welfare; helping us compete with our international players.”

The six strategic goals in the strategy are:

• Thriving cows – ensuring all dairy animals are bred, reared and cared for to thrive in all systems;

• Healthy feet – ensuring a proactive lameness management plan is in place on every UK dairy farm;

• Comfortable cows – maximising cow comfort in housing and at pasture;

• Appropriately nourished cows – ensuring a healthy body condition throughout the year;

• Healthy udders – continued improvements to udder health to reduce cases of mastitis;

• Positive welfare – moving towards ‘positive welfare’ by providing an environment that allows animals to exhibit normal behaviours such as curiosity or play.

Mr Jones said RH and W would support the industry to make progress in these six key areas as research had shown that the public expected the delivery of good welfare, as well as good health, and 'we must continue to set the bar high for our industry standards'.

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“The UK must ensure standards deliver excellent welfare, providing a solid platform for UK supply chains to build on in the future,” added Mr Jones.

“To enable the UK dairy industry to compete internationally, the sector will need to be able to provide evidence of progress on welfare. By doing so across the four nations, the UK will be positively differentiated from other countries.”