In this article, CAFRE discusses lameness in dairy cows, the cost and preventative measures.
According to CAFRE Dairying Advisor Judith McCord, lameness is a significant problem for the dairy industry as it is not only a critical welfare issue but can lead to reduced profits.
The most common cases of lameness in dairy cows are linked to painful hind limb foot lesions where sole ulcer, white line disease or digital dermatitis have been demonstrated as the predominant types.
Over recent years, herd size and production trends have increased demands on dairy cows. In the last ten years, the average herd size has moved from 75 to 95 cows.
Meanwhile, the average yield per cow increasing from 6225 litres to 7622 litres, according to DAERA economics and statistics.
Impact on yield
These higher-yielding cows are at increased risk of all production diseases, including lameness and high management standards.
Each incidence of lameness directly affects milk production in terms of daily yield, which can decrease significantly.
You will most commonly see yield loss due to lameness in cows from 2nd lactation onward. It can become all too common for the potential of a high yielding cow to be ‘lost’ when they become lame.
Milk yield loss can start up to four months before being diagnosed clinically. It can result in 550 litres of milk loss over a lactation.
According to Judith, this is essential information for assessing the economic impact of lameness and its impact on cow health.
Table 1 indicates the effect of lameness on the herd adding weight to the importance of early identification and treatment of clinical lameness.
Lameness has underlying effects on fertility and cull rates of a herd.
The additional stress can have a serious impact on ovarian function and follicular development with the overall potential of poor cycling and ovulation. Reduction in feed intake starts to play a role in body condition score loss at peak times.
Chronic inflammation can be associated with increased service to conception rates. Lame cows are nine times more likely to have an increased number of services. Besides, calving to conception interval can increase by up to 50 days.
Treatment costs
Lameness cost varies with the type of lesion and degree of severity. Treatment cost alone at £75 to £80 per case of digital dermatitis is significant.
However, the overall cost of an incidence of lameness in terms of treatment costs, loss of yield, and potential for a shortened productive life of the cow may be in the region of £330.
When broken down, the average lameness case cost is £2.20/day/cow for every day the cow is lame. A mobility score is needed to work out the overall cost on a herd basis.
One farmer’s experience
Stephen Wallace, a dairy farmer at Drumanaghan Farm outside Seaforde, recently assessed his herd lameness level before turning cows out to grass.
He has recently rebuilt his footbath in a different location to allow better cow flow and utilisation.
Judith recommends making foot bathing easier for the farmer and the cows, making it more likely to be done regularly. The new bath is a 1m by 4m concrete bath with rubber matting throughout the race and in the bath.
Before using the new foot bath, the farmer mobility scored the herd. He had not foot bathed cows for four months before this.
Mobility scoring retook place after cows had been foot bathed for four consecutive milking’s per week for four weeks.
Stephen used a copper sulphate and zinc solution. Comparing the mobility scores from Stephen’s herd shows that by foot bathing, he has decreased mobility scores 2 and 3 (lame cows) by 31%.
Cost
Within Stephens 186-cow herd, this represents 58 fewer cows being classified as lame and can be quantified financially by considering the cost of £2.20 per day of a lame cow.
Therefore, when looking at lameness in terms of its economic impact, the result of Stephen’s four week period of foot bathing reduces lameness cost by £127 per day.
How to prevent lameness
Judith summarises that prevention is always preferable and suggests consideration of the following points to improve hoof health.
Monthly mobility scoring can bring attention to lameness in a herd, whilst regular foot bathing and preventative hoof trimming will effectively tackle lameness.
Ensure cubicles are sized correctly with a comfortable lying surface and 5% more cubicles than cows.
Lying and standing area of 4 square metres per cow minimum. The cubicle arrangement and floors should be non-slip or grooved and clean of loose stone.
Minimise standing time while cows wait to be milked (<1hr/day) and, if longer, split into two groups where possible.
Minimise slurry pooling in cubicle housing and passageways and have adequate ventilation.
Housing for a time on straw post-calving and smooth the transition of dairy heifers into the herd, i.e. mixing into the main herd after evening milking or mixing with dry cows a few weeks before calving.
Further reading
We recently published an article on identifying lameness in advance of the breeding season, which you can find here.
