Position Statements

Welfare of Cull Dairy Cows

January 15, 2026

In this revision of the Welfare of Cull Dairy Cows Position Statement, references to transport that appeared in the previous version, other than those related to on-farm transport planning processes, have been removed. These will be presented in later position statements specific to animal transport .

Position

Cows are removed (culled) from dairy herds for many reasons. Early culling maximizes fitness and transport resilience. The CVMA supports the continued development and enhancement of on-farm protocols and options to optimize the welfare of dairy cows to be culled. The CVMA recognizes current limited slaughter infrastructure and strongly encourages the facilitated development of increased local slaughter and harmonized national standards to promote consistently acceptable outcomes for culled cows.

Summary

  • Each year in Canada, approximately 1 of 3 dairy cows are replaced for a variety of reasons including reduced health and/or productivity.
  • On-farm standard operating procedures (SOPs) for dairy cows should be developed with the herd veterinarian and should include a decision matrix for early culling to maximize cow welfare.
  • Dairy farmers have limited transport options when planning for culling of cows that have become compromised.
  • Pre-shipping rehabilitation of compromised dairy cows can result in improved resilience and cow welfare.
  • Risk to cow welfare increases with time in transport therefore all transport planning should be to nearest suitable location.
  • There is limited current local slaughter infrastructure for cull cow processing and more is needed.
  • CVMA urges nationally harmonized animal welfare standards to address interprovincial variation including at slaughter.

Background

  1. Each year in Canada, approximately 1 of 3 dairy cows are replaced (1) and the replaced cow is removed (culled) from the herd. This amounts to approximately 300,000 cows culled in Canada annually (2). Culled dairy cows are transported off the farm of origin and then almost exclusively marketed for beef.
  2. Most culled dairy cows are removed from a herd for one or more identified issues, commonly including low production, infertility, chronic mastitis, poor milk quality, and locomotion issues (1,3). However, estimates are that a significant number of culled dairy cows are also culled for many subclinical issues that result in reduced milk production. These subclinical conditions may result in dairy cow culls being at greater risk of suffering during standard transport and marketing practices (4) when compared to animals raised solely for beef production (1). The best outcome for the animal and the dairy farmer is to remove the cow from the milking process as early as possible before there is deterioration in their condition and a reduction in their resilience.
  3. Veterinarians have the responsibility to promote the humane treatment of animals and play a key role in assisting clients with dairy cow culling decisions. Dairy farmers, along with their herd veterinarians, should develop a cow culling decision matrix or standard operating procedure appropriate for their herd, with an emphasis on preserving and prioritizing cow health and welfare, early culling criteria and including a euthanasia protocol (see pro-Action) (5) when necessary to prevent suffering (6).
  4. All persons involved in the cow culling process are encouraged to review all applicable regulations (7,8) and available guidance 5,9, 10, 11,12). Industry requirements such as Dairy Farmers of Canada (DFC) proAction (5) and the National Farm Animal Care Council (NFACC) Code of Practice for the Care and Handling of Dairy Cattle (9) provide important information on timely culling decisions. The continued development of such materials is encouraged to assist dairy farmers, veterinarians and all those involved in making optimal cull dairy cow welfare-based decisions.
  5. For all culls, journey planning should always be to nearest suitable destination possible. Despite early culling practices, cull dairy cows are often less resilient to transport related stressors. Even for cull cows determined to be fit at loading, studies show that journeys as brief as 3 hours duration can result in negative impacts to welfare (13) and the risk increases with transport time. However data shows that long-distance journeys of more than 1,000 km and lasting 16 or more hours are not uncommon (14). The time that culled cows can remain in the marketing process can be as long as 7-10 days and the current average time in the system is 3.5 days (13).
  6. A key challenge in the current slaughter infrastructure is the paucity of local slaughter availability (15). Lower returns for dairy farmers at provincial plants or a reluctance or inability to accept culled cows at some facilities due to plant logistics or local regulations, may result in longer transport distances to federal plants or other more distant plants that can process these animals. This can result in added risk to their welfare. To reduce the risk, more provincial and/or federal slaughter plants including mobile slaughter options, able to process culled dairy cows are required in areas closer to where many dairy farms are situated.
  7. It is important to note that not all cows slated for culling are compromised but most are no longer highly valued as beef animals (16,17). However, new markets are emerging for fed and rehabilitated end-of-lactation cows (18, 19). Culled cows can be rehabilitated, not only to regain the capacity to cope with handling and transport but to become suitable for specific high-end markets focused on the qualities of mature beef (19). This process addresses not only their welfare but their sale prices as well. CVMA encourages veterinarians to discuss this emerging opportunity with their clients and for dairy farmers to consider this option. The appropriate treatment and rehabilitation plan for a cull cow is based on individual health assessment and options available for treatment in consultation with the herd veterinarian (13).
  8. As per federal regulations, animals determined to be compromised on farm or during transport are subject to fewer options for removal from the farm or handling at destination respectively, than are fit animals (7,8). If a compromised cow cannot be re-habilitated there are limited options for removal from the herd. These include special handling direct to local slaughter (8), on-farm slaughter for personal use, mobile inspected slaughter (20) where it is available, or euthanasia on site. It is important to note that animals determined to be unfit as per federal regulations cannot be transported (8) unless for care. On-farm euthanasia protocols and mobile slaughter options are very important to address the welfare of these animals.
  9. Currently slaughter capacity and inconsistent animal welfare standards between provinces can result in planning for unnecessarily long transports to slaughter along with the resultant increased risks to their welfare. CVMA urges the development of additional slaughter capacity with nationally harmonized animal welfare standards to reduce interprovincial variability and to encourage planning for nearest suitable destination when culling dairy cows.

References

  1. Culling and replacement rates in dairy herds in Canada https://agriculture.canada.ca/en/sector/animal-industry/canadian-dairy-information-centre/statistics-market-information/dairy-animal-genetics/culling-replacement
  2. Government of Canada Farm Statistics https://agriculture.canada.ca/en/sector/animal-industry/canadian-dairy-information-centre/dairy-statistics-and-market-information/farm-statistics/number-farms-dairy-cows-and-dairy-heifers
  3. S.M. Roche, D.L. Renaud, R. Genore, D.A. Shock, C. Bauman, S. Croyle, H.W. Barkema, J. Dubuc , G.P. Keefe , D.F. Kelton Canadian National Dairy Study: Describing Canadian dairy producer practices and perceptions surrounding cull cow management Journal of Dairy Science 2020,103:3414-3421
  4. K Dahl-Pedersen, M.S. Herskin, H. Houe, P.T. Thomsen Risk factors for deterioration of the clinical condition of cull dairy cows during transport to slaughter Front. Vet. Sci., 5 (2018), p. 297 https://doi.org/10.3389/fvets.2018.00297
  5. Dairy Farmers of Canada. [pro-action homepage on Internet]. Available from: https://www.dairyfarmers.ca/proaction
  6. Doonan G, Benard G, Cormier N. Livestock and poultry fitness for transport — The veterinarian’s role. Can Vet J 2014;55:589-590. Available from: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4022031/
  7. Canadian Food Inspection Agency. Provincial and territorial legislation concerning farm animal welfare. Available from: http://www.inspection.gc.ca/animals/terrestrial-animals/humane-transport/provincial-and-territorial-legislation/eng/1358482954113/1358483058784
  8. Government of Canada. Justice Laws Website. Health of Animals Regulations Part Xll. Available from: http://laws-lois.justice.gc.ca/eng/regulations/C.R.C.,_c._296/index.html
  9. National Farm Animal Care Council Dairy Code of Practice 2023. (Tools for assessing fitness). Appendix B - Body Conditions Scoring Chart; Appendix E - Lameness Scoring Systems for Dairy Cows; Appendix F – Transport Decision Tree; Appendix G – Sample Euthanasia Decision Tree; https://www.nfacc.ca/codes-of-practice/dairy-cattle
  10. Marshall, J., Haley, D., Levison, L., Kelton, D.F., Miltenburg, C., Roche, S., Duffield, T.F. A survey of dairy cattle farmer’s management practices for cull cows in Ontario, Canada. Frontiers in Veterinary Science 2022 https://www.frontiersin.org/journals/veterinary-science/articles/10.3389/fvets.2022.974061/full
  11. Cull cow decision action card https://www.ontario.ca/page/cull-cow-decision-action-card
  12. Health of Animals Regulations: Part XII: Transport of Animals-Regulatory Amendment Interpretive Guidance for Regulated Parties https://inspection.canada.ca/en/animal-health/terrestrial-animals/humane-transport/health-animals-regulations-part-xii
  13. J. Stojkov 1, M.A.G. von Keyserlingk 1, T. Duffield 2, D. Fraser 1Management of cull dairy cows: Culling decisions, duration of transport, and effect on cow condition Journal of Dairy Science Volume 103, Issue 3, March 2020, Pages 2636-2649
  14. L.A. González, K.S. Schwartzkopf-Genswein, M. Bryan, R. Silasi, F. Brown Benchmarking study of industry practices during commercial long haul transport of cattle in Alberta, Canada https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0022030220300345#bib14
  15. Stojkov, J., Bowers, G., Draper, M., Duffield, T., Duivenvoorden, P., Groleau, M., Haupstein, D., Peters, R., Pritchard, J., Radom, C., Sillett, N., Skippon, W., Trépanier, H., Fraser, D. Hot Topic: Management of cull dairy cows – consensus of an expert consultation in Canada J.Dairy Sci. 101: 11170-11174. 2018. https://doi.org/10.3168/jds.2018-14919
  16. Moorman, K.G., Duffield, T.F., Godkin, M.A., Kelton, D.F., Rau, J., Haley, D.B. Associations between the general condition of culled dairy cows and selling price at Ontario auction markets J.Dairy Sci. 101: 10580-10588. 2018 https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0022030218308075
  17. Allison K.G. Moorman , Todd F. Duffield, M. Ann Godkin, David F. Kelton, Jeffrey Rau, Derek B. Haley Associations between the general condition of culled dairy cows and selling price at Ontario auction markets. https://www.journalofdairyscience.org/article/S0022-0302(18)30807-5/fulltext
  18. N. Berdusco, D. Kelton, D. Haley, K. M. Wood, and T. F. Duffield. Can 60 days of feeding lead to increased fitness for transport in cull dairy cows? https://doi.org/10.3168/jds.2023-24525
  19. Improving market (cull) dairy cows’ carcass traits and meat quality N. Berdusco,1 D. Kelton,1 D. Haley,1 K. M. Wood,2 and T. F. Duffield1*a J. Dairy Sci. 107:11415–11424 https://doi.org/10.3168/jds.2024-25048
  20. Meat on Wheels: The potential for a Mobile Slaughterhouse Init in Haliburton County. JUST Vol V, No 1 2017 Trent University https://ojs.trentu.ca/index.php/just/article/view/85