Influence of an Improved Floor Design on the Claw Health of Dairy Cows

Abstract

Analysis of claw diseases within the last two decades showed a dependence betweenlameness and housing environment. Besides the fact, that lameness is a multifactorial disease,housing of dairy cows in cubicle loose housing systems is one main factor for increasing culling ratesregarding lameness in many dairy herds. The claws of dairy cows are effected by wet and dirtysurfaces of the alleys and passages. The water content of the horn increases, the resistance againstbacterial and fungal infections decreases, as long as claws are in contact with the wet environment.The idea of the described experiment was to dry claws with a different structure of floor types anddesign of the feeding area, where cows spend 3 to 6 hours per day standing in a feeding rack. A typeof dry foot bath was designed, working with the hind claws to make them drier and healthier. Theclaws of 48 dairy cows were examined during the experimental period, lasting 6 months. Theevaluation included measurements of hardness according shore D, conductivity (water content), clawmeasurements, microbiological status of the dry foot bath and prints of the sole area. First resultsshow that hardness of claws increases on the improved drier solid floor type, compared to theconventional solid floor.