Case report: Reducing lameness through active screening, attention to details and skilled staff

Abstract

A detailed lameness review was conducted on a prize-winning Gloucestershire herd of 332 Holsteins. Lameness incidence, calculated from lameness treatment records on Interherd (Pan Livestock, UK) using TotalVet (Sum-it, UK), was found to be 17 cases per 100 cows per year. Lameness prevalence, as measured using an automatic lameness detection system at the start of December 2010, was found to be extremely low, at 12% lameness, of which only 2% were classed as severely lame. Lesion incidence analysis revealed a shift in pattern of lameness lesions, coinciding with a new herdsman, from sole ulcers and white line disease to sole bruising and digital dermatitis. The increase in sole bruising and digital dermatitis cases was attributed to more proactive detection and treatment of lameness. Further work is needed to establish whether automatic lameness detection systems can be used to review lameness trends as well as acting as a means of monitoring lameness onset and lameness recovery.