Successful dairies have healthy cattle and consistent animal care. Dairy welfare audits aim to evaluate both and provide a structure for measuring performance of animal health and cattle care.

Programs to address dairy cattle welfare come in different shapes and sizes. They range from those that serve niche markets are relatively small and aim to differentiate their product with an animal welfare label, to others like FARM, which represents over 95 percent of U.S. dairy farms.

If you’ve experienced a severe burn, you’ll know all too well that the pain doesn’t disappear overnight. In fact, it can get worse before it gets better. When it comes to hot-iron disbudding, calves may be in a similar boat.