Lameness In Herds Research Articles

PSX-28 Management of lameness in meat goat herds: A survey of producers in the southeastern US

Abstract Lameness is a persistent animal health concern in the meat goat industry. A survey was developed to describe lameness in commercial meat goat herds in the southeastern US. The survey included 35 multiple-choice questions about general herd attributes, various management practices, and specific herd lameness characteristics. A photo guide of goat hoof lesions was included in the survey package. The survey was sent by postal mail to 629 farms in Tennessee and bordering states with 183 completed surveys returned. The majority of herds managed Kiko (32%), Boer (22%), and Myotonic (19%) goat breeds. Reasons for raising goats included seed stock or breeding stock (78.1%), commercial, market, or slaughter purposes (62.3%), hobby, pets, or show (48.6%), and for brush, vegetation, or weed control (25.7%). Most respondents (90.7%) acquired goats from breeder farms, whereas only 2.7% of respondents purchased goats from sale barns. Most respondents quarantine new animals before adding them to the herd (78.1%), while 19.7% did not quarantine new animals and 1.1% were unfamiliar with the practice. The average monthly lameness rate was estimated to be at 6% with seasonal occurrences identified by respondents as 6% in the fall, 31.4% in the winter, 25.1% in the spring, and 50.5% in the summer. Some respondents indicated no seasonal variation (24.0%) or did not know (3.3%) if seasonal variation existed. Primary causes of lameness identified by respondents were overgrown hooves (50%), foot scald (19%), and foot rot (14%). Other lesions were identified at less than 8%. Sources of lameness treatment information for respondents were other producers (34.9%), veterinarians (30.6%), books (22.4%), online chat groups (19.1%), magazines (8.7%), and the extension service (8.2%). When lame goats were identified, more respondents (56.8%) did not isolate lame goats than those that practiced lame goat isolation (24.0%). Most respondents indicated that they treated lame goats (76.5%), a few did not treat lame goats (4.9%), and notable proportion (19.6%) did not respond to the question. Management approaches to treating lameness identified most frequently by respondents included hoof trimming (85%), topical hoof applications (40%), injectable antibiotics (32%), and footbaths (17%); 4% of respondents noted other methods. As a form of general hoof care management, most producers conducted hoof trimmings two or three times a year (51.9%), compared with trimming hooves once a year (9.8%), monthly (14.2%), or only trim hooves when goats became lame (6.6%). As a culling criterion, 29.5% responded lameness was a cull factor, 45.4% indicated it was not a cull factor, and 25.1% of respondents either did not know or did not response. Survey results showed that lameness is an issue in meat goat herds of the southeastern U.S. and a diversity of management approaches are used by producers to address the concern.

Using Object-Oriented Simulation to Assess the Impact of the Frequency and Accuracy of Mobility Scoring on the Estimation of Epidemiological Parameters for Lameness in Dairy Herds.

Mobility scoring data can be used to estimate the prevalence, incidence, and duration of lameness in dairy herds. Mobility scoring is often performed infrequently with variable sensitivity, but how this impacts the estimation of lameness parameters is largely unknown. We developed a simulation model to investigate the impact of the frequency and accuracy of mobility scoring on the estimation of lameness parameters for different herd scenarios. Herds with a varying prevalence (10, 30, or 50%) and duration (distributed around median days 18, 36, 54, 72, or 108) of lameness were simulated at daily time steps for five years. The lameness parameters investigated were prevalence, duration, new case rate, time to first lameness, and probability of remaining sound in the first year. True parameters were calculated from daily data and compared to those calculated when replicating different frequencies (weekly, two-weekly, monthly, quarterly), sensitivities (60-100%), and specificities (95-100%) of mobility scoring. Our results showed that over-estimation of incidence and under-estimation of duration can occur when the sensitivity and specificity of mobility scoring are <100%. This effect increases with more frequent scoring. Lameness prevalence was the only parameter that could be estimated with reasonable accuracy when simulating quarterly mobility scoring. These findings can help inform mobility scoring practices and the interpretation of mobility scoring data.

Genetic selection to reduce lameness in dairy cattle

The high prevalence of lameness in dairy cattle is a critical issue for the industry. Despite having a low heritability, considerable genetic variability is associated with the risk of lameness; therefore, genetic selection can be used to complement management-based approaches to reduce lameness in dairy herds. The Lameness Advantage genetic index, available for all recorded and evaluated dairy animals in the UK, is an estimate of an animal's genetic predisposition to lameness. It has been shown that cows with higher Lameness Advantage values had a reduced incidence of sole lesions, digital dermatitis, and lameness; therefore, breeding to increase the average Lameness Advantage value of a herd could be beneficial. This can be readily achieved by breeding replacements from bulls with a Lameness Advantage value that is above the herd average; this is a low-cost and effective strategy that all farms could implement almost immediately to improve foot health. It is important to ensure a balanced approach to genetic selection by first selecting the parents of the next generation on their overall profitability index (eg £PLI, £SCI or £ACI), followed by secondary selection criteria to address specific breeding goals.

Meta-analysis of prevalence and associated risk factors for lameness in dairy cattle across tropical Asian nations

Context Lameness in dairy cattle affects the health, welfare, performance, and profitability of dairy farms. Being multifactorial in nature, several animal and farm-level risk factors influence the severity and prevalence of lameness. Aims The objective of the present meta-analysis study was to provide a pooled estimate of the prevalence and identification of the potential risk factors associated with lameness in dairy cattle across tropical Asian countries. Methods A literature search reporting prevalence data for lameness in dairy cattle of tropical Asian countries including India, Bangladesh, Pakistan, Malaysia, Nepal and Thailand for the past 21 years (2000–2021) was collected by using appropriate keywords from the electronic databases. After removing outlier studies, a meta-analysis of 38 studies published in English was performed under a random-effects model by using the meta package (metaprop function) in R software. Key results The pooled estimate of the overall prevalence of lameness was 15.13% (95% confidence interval [CI] = 13.01, 17.53). High heterogeneity was found in the prevalence estimates among the published studies (P &lt; 0.05). The pooled prevalence for lameness-related lesions was, for overgrown hooves 34.42% (95% CI = 23.41, 47.42), interdigital 28 hyperplasia 9.73% (95% CI = 5.84, 15.78), white line disease 6.91% (95% CI = 3.54, 13.05) and sole ulcer 6.84% (95% CI = 3.87, 11.83). The prevalence of lameness was higher in cows at parity three (23.03%) and at parity greater than or equal to 4 (31.68%) than at first and second parity. Breed of an animal, lower body condition score (BCS), housing and floor type, and season also had a significant effect on the pooled prevalence of lameness (P &lt; 0.0001). Conclusions The findings of the present study showed that lameness is prevalent across the tropical Asian countries and there was a significant association of risk factors such as housing, floor, hygiene, and animal nutrition with lameness in dairy herds. Implications Meta-analysis study indicated that there is a need to adopt better management practices to minimise the incidence of lameness in dairy animals.

Automated detection of lameness in cattle: an update

Lameness is common in the dairy industry, with an estimated prevalence of approximately 30%. Performing regular mobility scoring is recommended on farms to monitor the prevalence of herd lameness and identify (and subsequently treat) lame cows promptly, but mobility scoring can be subjective and may be difficult to regularly implement on farm. Accordingly, there is increasing interest in the automation of lameness detection with direct and indirect methods described. This article provides an overview of automated detection of lameness with a focus on direct methods.

Crowd sourcing remote comparative lameness assessments for dairy cattle

Lameness assessments are rarely conducted routinely on dairy farms and when completed typically underestimate lameness prevalence, hampering early diagnosis and treatment. A well-known feature of many perceptual tasks is that relative assessments are more accurate than absolute assessments, suggesting that creating methods that allow for the relative scoring of which cow is more lame will allow for reliable lameness assessments. Here we developed and tested a remote comparative lameness assessment method: we recruited nonexperienced crowd workers via an online platform and asked them to watch 2 videos side-by-side, each showing a cow walking, and to identify which cow was more lame and by how much (on a scale of -3 to 3). We created 11 tasks, each with 10 video pairs for comparison, and recruited 50 workers per task. All tasks were also completed by 5 experienced cattle lameness assessors. We evaluated data filtering and clustering methods based on worker responses and determined the agreement among workers, among experienced assessors, and between these groups. A moderate to high interobserver reliability was observed (intraclass correlation coefficient, ICC = 0.46 to 0.77) for crowd workers and agreement was high among the experienced assessors (ICC = 0.87). Average crowd-worker responses showed excellent agreement with the average of experienced assessor responses (ICC = 0.89 to 0.91), regardless of data processing method. To investigate if we could use fewer workers per task while still retaining high agreement with experienced assessors, we randomly subsampled 2 to 43 (1 less than the minimum number of workers retained per task after data cleaning) workers from each task. The agreement with experienced assessors increased substantially as we increased the number of workers from 2 to 10, but little increase was observed after 10 or more workers were used (ICC > 0.80). The proposed method provides a fast and cost-effective way to assess lameness in commercial herds. In addition, this method allows for large-scale data collection useful for training computer vision algorithms that could be used to automate lameness assessments on farm.

Initial validation of an intelligent video surveillance system for automatic detection of dairy cattle lameness.

Lameness is a major welfare challenge facing the dairy industry worldwide. Monitoring herd lameness prevalence, and early detection and therapeutic intervention are important aspects of lameness control in dairy herds. The objective of this study was to evaluate the performance of a commercially available video surveillance system for automatic detection of dairy cattle lameness (CattleEye Ltd). This was achieved by first measuring mobility score agreement between CattleEye and two veterinarians (Assessor 1 and Assessor 2), and second, by investigating the ability of the CattleEye system to detect cows with potentially painful foot lesions. We analysed 6,040 mobility scores collected from three dairy farms. Inter-rate agreement was estimated by calculating percentage agreement (PA), Cohen's kappa (κ) and Gwet's agreement coefficient (AC). Data regarding the presence of foot lesions were also available for a subset of this dataset. The ability of the system to predict the presence of potentially painful foot lesions was tested against that of Assessor 1 by calculating measures of accuracy, using lesion records during the foot trimming sessions as reference. In general, inter-rater agreement between CattleEye and either human assessor was strong and similar to that between the human assessors, with PA and AC being consistently above 80% and 0.80, respectively. Kappa agreement between CattleEye and the human scorers was in line with previous studies (investigating agreement between human assessors) and within the fair to moderate agreement range. The system was more sensitive than Assessor 1 in identifying cows with potentially painful lesions, with 0.52 sensitivity and 0.81 specificity compared to the Assessor's 0.29 and 0.89 respectively. This pilot study showed that the CattleEye system achieved scores comparable to that of two experienced veterinarians and was more sensitive than a trained veterinarian in detecting painful foot lesions.

Cost of lameness in dairy herds: An integrated bioeconomic modeling approach

Foot disorders are costly health disorders in dairy farms, and their prevalence is related to several factors such as breed, nutrition, and farmer's management strategy. Very few modeling approaches have considered the dynamics of foot disorders and their interaction with farm management strategies within a holistic farm simulation model. The aim of this study was to estimate the cost of foot disorders in dairy herds by simulating strategies for managing lameness. A dynamic and stochastic simulation model (DairyHealthSim) was used to simulate the herd dynamics, reproduction management, and health events. A specific module was built for lameness and related herd-level management strategies. Foot disorder occurrences were simulated with a base risk for each etiology [digital dermatitis (DD), interdigital dermatitis, interdigital phlegmon, sole ulcer (SU), white line disease (WLD)]. Two state machines were implemented in the model: the first was related to the disease-induced lameness score (from 1 to 5), and the second concerned DD-state transitions. A total of 880 simulations were run to represent the combination of the following 5 scenarios: (1) housing (concrete vs. textured), (2) hygiene (2 different scraping frequencies), (3) the existence of preventive trimming, (4) different thresholds of DD prevalence detected and from which a collective footbath is applied to treat DD, and (5) farmer's ability to detect lameness (detection rate). Housing, hygiene, and trimming scenarios were associated with risk factors applied for each foot disorder etiologies. The footbath and lameness detection scenarios both determined the treatment setup and the policy of herd observance. The economic evaluation outcome was the gross margin per year. A linear regression model was run to estimate the cost per lame cow (lameness score ≥3), per case of DD and per week of a cow's medium lameness duration. The bioeconomic model reproduced a lameness prevalence varying from 26 to 98% depending on the management scenario, demonstrating a high capacity of the model to represent the diversity of the field situations. Digital dermatitis represented half of the total lameness cases, followed by interdigital dermatitis (28%), SU (19%), WLD (13%), and interdigital phlegmon (4%). The housing scenarios dramatically influenced the prevalence of SU and WLD, whereas scraping frequency and threshold for footbath application mainly determined the presence of DD. Interestingly, the results showed that preventive trimming allowed a better reduction in lameness prevalence than spending time on early detection. Scraping frequency was highly associated with DD occurrence, especially with a textured floor. The regression showed that costs were homogeneous (i.e., did not change with lameness prevalence; marginal cost equals average cost). A lame cow and a DD-affected cow cost €307.50 ± 8.40 (SD) and €391.80 ± 10.0 per year on average, respectively. The results also showed a cost of €12.10 ± 0.36 per week-cow lameness. The present estimation is the first to account for interactions between etiologies and for the complex DD dynamics with all the M-stage transitions, bringing a high level of accuracy to the results.

Lameness prevalence and management practices on Irish pasture-based dairy farms

BackgroundLameness is a painful disease, which negatively impacts dairy cow production and welfare. The aim of this observational study was to determine herd lameness prevalence, describe current lameness management practices and identify the presence of established risk factors for lameness on Irish pasture-based dairy farms. Farms were visited once during grazing (99 farms) and again during housing (85 farms). Lameness scoring was carried out at each visit (AHDB 0–3 scale); cows were classified as lame if they scored two or three. Farm management practices and infrastructure characteristics were evaluated via farmer questionnaires and direct measurements of farm infrastructure.ResultsMedian herd-level lameness prevalence was 7.9% (interquartile range = 5.6 – 13.0) during grazing and 9.1% (interquartile range = 4.9 – 12.0) during housing; 10.9% of cows were lame at a single visit and 3.5% were lame at both visits (chronically lame or had a repeat episode of lameness). Fifty-seven percent of farmers were not familiar with lameness scoring and only one farm carried out lameness scoring. Only 22% of farmers kept records of lame cows detected, and 15% had a lameness herd health plan. Twenty-eight percent of farmers waited more than 48 h to treat a lame cow, and 21% waited for more than one cow to be identified as lame before treating. Six percent of farmers carried out routine trimming and 31% regularly footbathed (> 12 times per year). Twelve percent put severely lame cows in a closer paddock and 8% stated that they used pain relief to treat severely lame cows. Over 50% of farms had at least one cow track measurement that was classified as rough or very rough, and cow tracks were commonly narrow for the herd size. On 6% of farms, all cubicle beds were bare concrete (no matting or bedding) and on a further 6% of farms, there was a combination of cubicles with and without matting or bedding. On 56% of farms, all pens contained less than 1.1 cubicles per cow and on 28% of farms, a proportion of pens contained less than 1.1 cubicles per cow.ConclusionsOverall, this study identified infrastructure and management practices which could be improved upon. The comparatively low lameness prevalence demonstrated, compared to fully housed systems, also highlights the benefits of a pasture-based system for animal welfare; however, there remains scope for improvement.

Lameness in Dairy Cow Herds: Disease Aetiology, Prevention and Management

As livestock production systems have changed to intensive commercial structures to meet the increasing demand for animal-based products, there has been an increase in food production diseases, subsequently resulting in animal welfare issues. After mastitis and infertility, lameness is one of the three major issues affecting dairy cattle globally, resulting in reduced productivity, economic losses, and animal welfare problems. Lameness is associated with reduced milk yield, lack of weight gain, poor fertility, and frequently, animal culling. Environmental (temperature, humidity) and animal risk factors contribute to disease severity, making this multifaceted disease difficult to eradicate and control. As such, prevalence rates of lameness in dairy herds ranges from 17% to 35% globally. Clinical lameness is often treated with antibiotic therapy, which is undesirable in food-producing animals, as outlined in the One Health and the European Farm to Fork food sustainability goals. Lameness is not a single disease in dairy cows but is the manifestation a range of issues, making lameness control one of the greatest challenges in dairy farming. Lameness prevention, therefore, must be a key focus of farm management and sustainable food production. There is an urgent need to establish farm-level aetiology of disease, promote the recognition of lameness, and implement effective control measures to lower incidence and transmission of disease within herds.

Association between lameness risk assessment and lameness and foot lesion prevalence on dairy farms in Alberta, Canada

Lameness is a detrimental health and welfare concern of dairy cattle with high prevalence in North American herds. As a practical and farm-specific approach toward its mitigation in Alberta, Canada, a score-based lameness risk assessment questionnaire (RAQ) was developed for veterinarians to conduct with their clients; however, its accuracy in identifying risk for lameness and hoof lesions has not been evaluated. Our objectives were to (1) provide an update on prevalence of lameness and hoof lesions in Alberta freestall herds, (2) validate the RAQ by determining the association between RAQ scores and the prevalence of herd lameness and herd lesions, and (3) determine the association between presence of common hoof lesions and lameness. For the first 2 objectives, 65 Alberta dairy farms were visited between March and October 2018 to collect a completed RAQ, hoof trimming records from their hoof trimmer, and video footage of the entire lactating herd. For the third objective, 10 participant herds were visited twice between November 2013 and June 2014 to take video footage of the entire lactating herd and collect hoof trimming records from their hoof trimmer within 48 h after video footage collection. Median herd-level lameness prevalence was 20% (range = 2-56%), infectious lesion prevalence was 10% (range = 0-49%), and noninfectious lesion prevalence was 15% (range = 2-39%). Of cows that were lame, 93% had a lesion, whereas 21% of cows with a lesion were lame. Cows with an infectious and noninfectious lesion were, respectively, 1.5 and 3.1 times more likely to be lame than cows with no lesion. Total RAQ score and herd lameness prevalence were correlated (r = 0.26) and noninfectious RAQ score and noninfectious lesion prevalence were correlated (r = 0.45), whereas infectious RAQ score and infectious lesion prevalence were not. Cow-level mixed logistic regression models indicated no associations between any of the RAQ scores and presence of lameness or a hoof lesion. Lameness prevalence in Alberta remains high, indicative of a low adoption rate of mitigation strategies by producers. Improvement of the RAQ could allow for better reflection of lameness and lesions on farm and can be achieved through further risk factor analysis within the RAQ, which may result in removal or addition of questions as well as the adjustment of scores based on risk factors' strength of association with lameness and lesions.

Farmers' perceptions and approaches to detection, treatment and prevention of lameness in pasture‐based dairy herds in New South Wales, Australia

The objective of this study was to investigate farmers' perception of lameness in comparison to the estimated prevalence of lameness in NSW pasture-based dairies to evaluate farmers' perceptions and approaches to detection, treatment and prevention of lameness. Across-sectional study was conducted on 62 pasture-based dairy farms across NSW, Australia. The prevalence of lameness in these farms was estimated using locomotion scoring (1-4 scale). A survey was also conducted, using a questionnaire and face-to-face interview, to explore farmers' perceived prevalence of lameness and approaches to treatment and prevention. The prevalence of lameness estimated by farmers was 3.7 times less (mean: 5%; range 0% to 26%) than that determined by locomotion scoring (mean: 19.1%; range 5.0%-44.5%). Approaches to treatment included antimicrobial therapy, hoof inspection with or without application of wooden blocks. In 28% of the farms, the lame cows were managed by farmers or farm staff with no official training in treatment of lame cows. The mean interval from detection of lameness to examination of the affected hoof was almost 55 hours (range 2-720 hours). A very low percentage of farms kept lameness records or implemented lameness preventive strategies such as footbaths and prophylactic foot trimming. Farmers and farm managers were found to underestimate the prevalence of lameness which could be due to the low level of awareness and can contribute to subsequent lack of implementation of prophylactic procedures and preventive management strategies for lameness. These findings accentuate the need to improve farmers' ability to detect lame cows and to emphasise the importance of recording in order to facilitate the management of lameness in dairy herds.

A machine learning based decision aid for lameness in dairy herds using farm-based records

Lameness is a common welfare issue in dairy farms and can negatively influence productivity and farm profitability. On-farm measurements are time consuming and continuous monitoring of lameness can be thus challenging. A predictive model that is suitable for routine field applications can be thus an efficient strategy to improve lameness status in dairy herds. We explored the use of a machine learning approach based on decision tree induction to detect and monitor the risk level of dairy herds for lameness based on 20 routinely pre-collected farm-based records related to herd management and housing, milk production performance, reproduction performance, longevity, and genetic merit. The risk of lameness was determined for 229 dairy herds based on herd prevalence. The results based on 10-fold repeated cross-validation suggest that there was little difference between a simple decision tree and more advanced machine learning algorithms such as random forests or boosting algorithms with an area under the receiver operating characteristic curve (AUC) of 0.73–0.75, but machine learning performed better than classical multivariate logistic regression (AUC of 0.28). Model sensitivity based on machine learning was highest at 0.58, whereas model specificity was highest at 0.89 among all models tested. Stacking the individual machine learning algorithms to a higher-order model slightly lifted model performance (AUC of 0.76) at a model sensitivity of 0.54 and a model specificity of 0.94 but at a loss in model interpretability. Additional information more closely related to lameness are required to further improve model performance. Nevertheless, decision tree induction was found to be useful in analysing small data sets that frequently occur in various livestock farming disciplines. Overall, the machine learning approach described in our study may be an appropriate and powerful decision support and monitoring tool, and can be implemented in a computerized information system to detect herds with potential deficiencies in lameness.

Perceptions of lameness in dairy herds

The prevalence of lameness in UK dairy herds has been estimated to be approximately 30–32%, yet is consistently under-estimated by most farmers. This article discusses some of the reasons why this might be so, as well as ways to more effectively present the economic arguments for reducing lameness. Finally, the role of the veterinary surgeon is considered, implementing the AHDB Healthy Feet Programme to reduce lameness.

Realities and practicalities of achieving sustainable improvements in foot health on dairy farms

Dairy cattle lameness is still a significant problem on many dairy units, with the range of lameness prevalence still unchanged from reports nearly a decade ago (0–79%). There are three main areas to achieving sustained improvements in herd foot health: first, building a good working relationship with your farmer, ensuring a constructive 2-way dialogue is used; second, collecting a range of data about the herd's lameness status to indicate the major issues; third, coming up with appropriate and realistic suggestions to help ensure sustainable improvements in lameness are created. This article covers components of all three areas, helping practioners hone their consulting skills to achieve sustainable improvements in cattle lameness.

Prevalence of lameness and hoof lesions in all year-round grazing cattle in Brazil.

Lameness is a growing concern to the dairy industry worldwide. However, little is known about lameness and its causes in grazing cattle, especially in tropical climates. This study aimed to assess the prevalence of hoof lesions and lameness in dairy herds of all year-round grazing cattle under tropical condition, and to identify the main lesions associated with lameness. We visited 48 farms located in the Minas Gerais state, Brazil, equally divided into four groups based on daily milk production. All lactating cows in the visited farms were locomotion scored, and a representative sample was randomly chosen for hoof inspection. Among the 2267 lactating cows evaluated, 16% were scored as lame and 7% as severely lame. Nearly all cows presented at least one type of hoof lesion, of which heel horn erosion (90%), white line fissure (50%), and digital dermatitis (33%) were the most prevalent. Heel horn erosion was present in all farms and digital dermatitis was present in 96% of the farms. Sole ulcer was observed in a single animal. Additionally, digital dermatitis and white line fissure were correlated to a 2.5 times increase in the odds of a poor mobility score. Collectively, our results demonstrate that digital dermatitis and white line fissure are the main concern and the biggest cause of lameness in grazing cattle under tropical conditions.

A Cross-Sectional Study Into the Prevalence of Dairy Cattle Lameness and Associated Herd-Level Risk Factors in England and Wales

Lameness is one of the most pressing issues within the dairy industry; it has severe economic implications while causing a serious impact on animal welfare. A study conducted approximately 10 years ago found the within farm lameness prevalence in the UK to be 36.8%. Our objective here is to provide an update on within farm lameness prevalence in the UK, and to provide further evidence on farm level risk factors. A convenience sample of 61 dairy farms were recruited across England and Wales from September 2015 to December 2016. A single farm visit was made and the milking herd was mobility scored, as the cows exited the milking parlor after morning, afternoon, or evening milking. Information regarding the farm and management system was then collected using a short interview with the farmer followed by collection of various subjective and objective measurements of the environment. The same, trained researcher performed all animal and facility-based measures on all visits. A series of univariable analyses were conducted to evaluate the association between various risk factors and herd lameness prevalence (logit transformed). A multivariable linear regression model was then fitted. The median number of milking cows per herd was 193, ranging from 74 to 1,519 cows. The mean within farm lameness prevalence was 31.6%, ranging from 5.8 to 65.4%. In total, 14,700 cows were mobility scored with 4,145 cows found to be lame (28.2%). A number of risk factors were associated with lameness at the univariable analysis level. Categorical risk factors retained in the final model were: resting area type, collecting yard groove spacing width, whether farms were undertaking the 60- to 100-day post calving claw trimming and the frequency of footbathing in the winter. The amount of concentrates fed in the milking parlors or out of parlor feeders was also associated with lameness prevalence. The results of this study have provided an update on the UK herd lameness prevalence and have confirmed the importance of cow comfort and footbathing frequency. The association between early lactation claw trimming and reduced lameness prevalence is, to the best of our knowledge, reported for the first time.

Lameness: a principle problem to sow longevity in breeding herds.

Abstract The objective of this paper is to review causes of lameness lesions, lameness detection methods, factors affecting lameness, the association between lameness and other economically important swine production traits, and treatment for lameness in swine breeding herds. Lameness in sows is an important welfare and economic challenge to pig producers. It has been reported to be the second most common reason for the involuntary culling of sows which directly impacts sow longevity/sow productive lifetime. Factors affecting the prevalence and severity of gilt and sow lameness breeding herd are housing type, flooring type, toes/dewclaws management, the genetic effect for feet and leg conformation, and nutrition especially mineral supplements. Sow preference and behavioural response to flooring type may be likewise be affected by lameness onset, duration, severity and location. To avoid unnecessary distress and associated financial losses, early treatment of lameness observed among the females in the gilt development unit and in the breeding herd is necessary. The key factors listed previously are the foundation of a proper prevalence strategy. However, this review shows that additional research is still needed, especially studies to accurately evaluate lameness lesions, examine nutrient requirements for optimum foot health, investigate genetic effects on feet and leg conformation, clearly define the supplemental vitamin or/and mineral levels and duration for usage. All of these factors may influence breeding herd lameness and may contribute to more consistent and comparable results from sow herd.

Lameness prevalence and risk factors in organic dairy herds in four European countries

The objectives of this cross-sectional study were to assess the prevalence of lameness in organic dairy herds in France, Germany, Spain and Sweden, and to investigate risk factors for the occurrence of lameness in these herds.The study sample was derived within the IMPRO project, which aimed to improve animal health and welfare in European organic dairy herds, and contained 8109 cows from 201 herds. Farm visits, during which a systematic random sample of the lactating cows was scored for lameness, were conducted from March to August 2013. During the visits, farm data for elaborating risk factors were collected through an on-farm protocol. The associations between herd variables and lameness were assessed with multivariable, generalized estimating equations with a logit link. The overall prevalence of lame cows was 18%, with large differences between and within the countries. The median (range) herd prevalence was 25% (0–51%), 20% (0–79%), 10% (0–27%) and 5% (0–25%) in France, Germany, Spain and Sweden, respectively. The odds of lameness was five to six times higher in France and Germany, and slightly higher in Spain, than in Sweden. Because the estimates for Spain deviated substantially from the other countries, Spanish data were analysed separately for assessing risk factors. The odds for lameness were significantly higher for the Holstein breed compared to the other breeds; the odds for lameness also increased with herd size in France, Germany and Sweden. In Spain, the effect of herd size was more diverse. Zero-grazing herds, which were only found in Germany, had higher odds of lameness than German grazing herds. The differences in lameness prevalence between the four countries could not be explained by the risk factors studied. Therefore, there is a need for more research to identify the country- and herd-specific factors behind the large variation. The need is reinforced by the fact that there is no unified recording of lameness in European organic dairy herds. The results of this study indicate that there may be a considerable number of European organic farms not reaching the aim of having a low lameness prevalence. This may be particularly true in large herds with cows of the Holstein breed and zero-grazing.

The contribution of previous lameness events and body condition score to the occurrence of lameness in dairy herds: A study of 2 herds

It has been demonstrated that low body condition and previous occurrence of lameness increase the risk of future lameness in dairy cows. To date the population attributable fraction (PAF), which provides an estimate of the contribution that a risk factor makes toward the total number of disease events in a population, has not been explored for lameness using longitudinal data with repeated measures. Estimation of PAF helps to identify control measures that could lead to the largest improvements on-farm. The aim of this study was to use longitudinal data to evaluate the proportion of lameness that could be avoided in 2 separate herds (2 populations) through (1) reduced recurrence of previous lameness events, (2) and moving body condition score (BCS) into more optimal ranges. Data were obtained from 2 UK dairy herds: herd A, a 200-cow herd with 8 yr of data from a total of 724 cows where lameness events were based on weekly locomotion scores (LS; 1 to 5 scale), and herd B, a 600-cow herd with data recorded over 44 mo from a total of 1,040 cows where treatment of clinical cases was used to identify lameness events. The PAF for categories of BCS were estimated using a closed equation appropriate for multiple exposure categories. Simulation models were used to explore theoretical scenarios to reflect changes in BCS and recurrence of previous lameness events in each herd. For herd A, 21.5% of the total risk periods (cow-weeks) contained a lameness event (LS 3, 4, or 5), 96% of which were repeat events and 19% were recorded with BCS <2 (3 wk previously; 0 to 5 scale). When lameness events were based on 2 consecutive weeks of LS 4 or 5, 4% of risk periods were recorded as lame, of which 89.5% were repeat events. For herd B, 16.3% of the total risk periods (consecutive 30 d) contained a lameness event (72.6% were repeat events) and 20% were recorded with BCS ≤2 (0 to 120 d previously). The median PAF for all previous lameness was between 79 and 83% in the 2 herds. Between 9 and 21% of lameness events could be attributed to previous lameness occurring >16 wk before a risk period. The median PAF estimated for changes in BCS were in the region of 4 to 11%, depending on severity of lameness. Repeated bouts of lameness made a very large contribution to the total number of lameness events. This could either be because certain cows are initially susceptible and remain susceptible, due to the increased risk associated with previous lameness events, or due to interactions with environmental factors. This area requires further research.