2 Intake falls to 20 – 40% below her body-maintenance needs. 3 The mother’s caloric energy demand doubles to launch milk production. This well-known energy gap — Negative Energy Balance ( NEB ) — is the upstream catalyst of nearly every costly fresh-cow problem. EFSA 2023 Left unaddressed, that single deficit cascades across every measurable: HEALTH ketosis, displaced abomasum, metritis, mastitis PRODUCTION lower peak milk, weaker persistency, quality penalties REPRODUCTION delayed cyclicity, lower conception, longer calving interval EMISSIONS higher methane intensity per litre LONGEVITY early involuntary culling; fewer lactations FARM ECONOMICS treatment, dumped milk, lost yield, replacements Transition Period problems are biological. The metabolic challenges mother cows face with every calving — or “freshening”: 1 The calf in gestation has compressed her digestive capacity to eat by ~ 30%. VIDEO · ‘Transition Inside: 3 Perspectives’ Sources: EFSA 2023 (T1-EU-0018); Transition Period Updated review 2021 (T2-EU-0058); longevity & emissions: Animal 2019 (T2- EU-0084); Dairy Cow Health & GHG Intensity 2020 (T2-EU-0096). biological.