Cattle management

Animal health and care are crucial to ensure consistent, top-quality milk production. This section details best practices to meet the highest industry and government standards.

While diseases are often measured by their economic impact, animal health is also a component of animal welfare. Factors such as nutrition, ventilation, housing and management practices can affect animal health. Pain and discomfort caused by health issues also impact an animal's well-being since good animal welfare requires good animal health.


Biosecurity entails herd management to prevent the introduction and spread of infectious diseases. Biosecurity plans provides overall benefits to the dairy industry and serve to:



  • decrease economic losses from diseases that cannot be treated or controlled using vaccinations or other management strategies (e.g. mastitis, Johne's disease)

  • help prevent the introduction of foreign diseases

  • control the spread of infection from region to region and farm to farm

  • facilitate the early recognition of emerging disease threats

  • prevent zoonosis

  • support the production of safe, wholesome milk and meat

  • maximize genetic export markets through disease prevention

Priority practice

Potential benefits:

  • Profitability
  • Business risk
  • Animal welfare
  • Good neighbourliness
  • Workers's well-being
  • Farmer's well-being


Standard operating procedures (SOPs) are documented, step-by-step instructions that describe how you want a particular task carried out. Examples of acceptable SOP methods are written, pictorial, video or electronic files. Please note, SOPs in electronic format should be backed-up. Establishing SOPs helps everyone on your farm apply procedures in a consistent manner and clearly understand your expectations. Furthermore, if something goes wrong, the SOPs can be re-evaluated to determine the areas for improvement to ensure that the problem does not reoccur.

Priority practice

Potential benefits:

  • Profitability
  • Business risk
  • Animal welfare


It is important to involve family members and employees in the development and implementation of a biosecurity plan and the annual review and educate them on the importance of following the biosecurity plan and their roles in enforcing and making the plan work. It may be useful to designate a family member or an employee (on a rotational basis) who will be responsible for implementing biosecurity and food safety standards on the farm on a day-to-day basis.

Priority practice
Easy to implement

Potential benefits:

  • Business risk
  • Animal welfare


Dairy farms are relatively open environments and therefore require the active control of all types of visitors using a risk-based approach to farm entry and facility access. Visitors are expected to contact you or another responsible individual on your farm before their arrival to confirm their visit and to be informed of the practices to follow during the visit. You should consider keeping a record of all visitors, including consultants, sales representatives, delivery persons, haulers, maintenance workers, and veterinarians.

Priority practice
Easy to implement

Potential benefits:

  • Business risk
  • Animal welfare

Animal welfare is becoming a major concern in the agro-food sector, especially at the production level. For a dairy farmer to be successful at producing milk of good quality, the welfare needs of dairy animals must be met. In practice, animals should live in reasonable harmony with the environment, have adequate fulfilment of their physical, health and behavioural needs and not be subjected to unnecessary pain or distress.


The Code of Practice for the Care and Handling of Dairy Cattle provides a mechanism for dairy producers to demonstrate their standards for good animal care. The Code includes requirements that all Canadian producers are expected to follow, such as no tail docking and the use of pain control during dehorning. The Code also includes recommended best practices. Following these best practices ensures animal welfare and is important to the success of the farm since healthy, comfortable cows produce more milk of higher quality.

Priority practice

Potential benefits:

  • Business risk
  • Animal welfare


The Code of Practice for the Care and Handling of Dairy Cattle provides a mechanism for dairy producers to demonstrate their standards for good animal care. The Code includes requirements that all Canadian producers are expected to follow, such as no tail docking and the use of pain control during dehorning. The Code also includes recommended best practices. Following these best practices ensures animal welfare and is important to the success of the farm since healthy, comfortable cows produce more milk of higher quality.

Priority practice

Potential benefits:

  • Profitability
  • Business risk
  • Animal welfare


Animals should always be handled with care and in a calm, easy manner, following a consistent routine to reduce fear, avoid injury, facilitate observation and treatment and enhance animal well-being and productivity.

Priority practice
Easy to implement

Potential benefits:

  • Profitability
  • Business risk
  • Animal welfare
  • Workers's well-being