Preventing lameness in dairy cattle

Experts weigh in on useful strategies

Reading Time: 4 minutes

Published: January 29, 2024

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Udders of two dairy cows

Cow comfort is king in the battle against lameness.

That’s the opinion of Mark Gerber, Zinpro dairy technical sales and master trimmer. He was a panelist at the Grey Bruce Farmers’ Week Dairy Day held earlier this month, and spoke on the importance of dairy cow hoof health.

“If that cow doesn’t have a comfortable bed 12 hours a day, we’re going to have problems,” Gerber said.

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“We really have to focus on cow comfort. Are our stalls set right? Is the bedding right? Are the surfaces? Are we getting maximum yield?”

Why it matters: Cow comfort, trimming, and foot bathing are critical for lameness prevention in dairy cows.  

It’s difficult for producers to accurately identify a cow as lame when locomotion scoring occurs in a busy pen or part of the farm, said panelist Dr. David Kelton, professor emeritus at the Ontario Veterinary College.

Aspects unrelated to lameness can affect the way a cow steps and carries her head and back, he added, including injury or a full udder.

He said genetic disorders and hoof lesions play a part, but accurate herd lameness assessments require careful observation of cow movement.

Infectious causes 

Mike Groen, Cargill Animal Nutrition dairy technical specialist, agreed with Gerber, saying nutrition increases cow health and farm success, but cow comfort is the primary focus with which to combat lameness.

“If you’re thinking about infectious or metabolic diseases, so metritis and mastitis, milk fever, ketosis, barn design environment, flooring surface, the amount of time the cows have been on their feet – that all relates to lameness,” said Groen.

Getting cows off their feet, relieving pressure, and focusing on hygiene is really going to work towards reducing those incidences of disease.”

Groen said nutrition can also impact lameness. For example, acidosis can lower rumen pH, leading to rumen microbe death and triggering a release of endotoxins through inflammation, sparking lameness.

But cow environment is the first line of attack.

Grey Bruce Farmers’ Week dairy lameness presentation. (screengrab)

Gerber said he would like to see more aggressive action from producers to address strawberry foot (digital dermatitis) in heifers and dry cows.

“I don’t care how you do it, whether foot bathing or the time cycle, but I’d like to get the foot bathing in the dry cows, and somehow, I’d like to be able to flip in a day or two a week in the heifers, especially as they go into the breeding pens, to keep it at bay.”

Nutritional products are available for non-lactating diets to help prevent digital dermatitis. Gerber said studies show these can reduce the occurrence by 60 per cent.

“It has to be in those diets, if you talk to your feed manufacturer, a minimum of 60 days before you start seeing lesions and they’re walking on their toes.”

In herds with 20 to 30 per cent or higher incidence of digital dermatitis, Gerber advised two weeks of daily foot shock before phasing in a two- or three-day-a-week schedule to clean it up.

Over 30 days, that should address the problem, but without continuous maintenance, it will return because large lesions penetrate deeply into the dermis.

“If we get the infectious lesions out of the way, we can come back and then spend more time on the non-infectious – thin soles, toe ulcers, sole ulcers, and white lines,” he said.

Foot baths

Gerber’s ideal dairy cow footbath is 12 feet long, approximately three feet wide and six inches deep to ensure complete coverage from the coronary band down, especially on the hind legs where digital dermatitis is most prevalent.

“Based on the volume of water litres of that footbath, how big it is, that’s going to tell you how many cows you’re going to be able to get through (before refreshing),” he explained. “You can do three head per gallon in the States.”

Gerber uses two to three per cent formaldehyde, which requires extra care, but he suggested five per cent non-acidified copper or two to three percent acidified copper as alternatives. Regular calibration is encouraged because chemical is deactivated by cow dung.

Hoof trimming

Christian Nagel, owner of Nagel Hoof Care, said incorporating indoor hoof trimming areas in new barn builds or retrofits will attract hoof trimmers and improve cow comfort compared to all-weather trimming.

“You get a spot inside, and it’s nice, and it’s easy to set up – we’re coming to your place real quick. Give us a call,” Nagel joked.

Groen said a flow system in which one person separates and delivers cows efficiently to the trimmer will reduce stress for the animals and the people.  

Herd management styles affect trimming schedules, as does stocking density and bedding. Nagel avoids trimming during cow transition periods unless absolutely necessary. 

“She’s losing weight, she’s losing body condition, that fat pad at the bottom of her foot is getting thinner,” Nagel said, “We just run more risk of potentially causing issues if we’re just doing maintenance trims (then).”

Bedding and flooring  

Housing environment plays a significant role in cow comfort and incidence of lameness and abnormal locomotion.

Kelton said free stalls and tie stalls have similar lameness levels, according to provincial and national data.

“Consistently, probably the least amount of lameness issues we see are in bedded pack barns, and that’s probably not surprising,” he said.

Nagel agreed, suggesting bedded pack barns rank highest, followed by sand-bedded free stalls. Gerber said the U.S. ranks sand first, recycled dried manure solids second, and mattresses third.

Data collected through the Pro-Action Animal Care Audit on lameness scores in areas without hoof lesions showed that hock injuries contribute to the problem.

“In a lot of ways, mattresses are great for cows that are lying down, but it can be a challenge and cause problems with cows getting up and down if there isn’t bedding on top of them.”

Built to withstand cow wear and tear, mattress fabrics tend to be coarse, especially when new, and can cause rug-like burns on hocks and knees. 

“Mattresses are a good base, but they need sufficient bedding on top to minimize that friction.”

He suggested four to six inches of bedding will do, but keeping it under the cows requires constant maintenance.

Flooring maintenance and timely regrooving can reduce white line incidents, added Groen.

“Five years in, 10 years in, 15 years in (from a new build), it might not be the same as it was on day one. So, making sure we’re revisiting some of those metrics around cow comfort,” he said.

“And continually doing maintenance or regrooving floors, digging out the back of the sand stalls or revisiting the position of our neck rail because our cow’s size changed over the years is something we need to do to maintain that cow comfort that we initially designed into the facility.”

About the author

Diana Martin

Diana Martin

Reporter

Diana Martin has spent several decades in the media sector, first as a photojournalist and then evolving into a multi-media journalist. In 2015, she left mainstream media and brought her skills to the agriculture sector. She owns a small farm in Amaranth, Ont. 

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