The objective of the present study was to evaluate the animal welfare of dairy cows according to good feeding and good housing principles of the Welfare Quality® protocol. The protocol was applied to animals kept confined in a free-stall barn during their lactation. The farm was located in São João Batista do Glória, Minas Gerais state - Brazil. One hundred and one animals were evaluated (47 primiparous and 54 multiparous). The welfare measures were collected mostly through observing the animals and they were processed according to the Welfare Quality® protocol, resulting on welfare criteria, which in turn were used to generate good feeding and good housing principles of animal welfare. Results were analyzed following a completely randomized design, in which animal category (primiparous or multiparous) was the treatment, adopting a 5% level of probability. Good feeding and good housing welfare principles were better for primiparous cows than for multiparous (P < 0.05). Therefore, the welfare of primiparous cows was better than the welfare of multiparous animals, indicating that greater care should be taken with animals on this category to ensure their welfare.