A barn for milking cows is a complicated building that must fulfill both the needs of the cows and the people working. Lots of small details have to be coordinated to match perfectly.

“You cannot get out of trouble using the same thought process that got you into trouble.”
—Albert Einstein

Over my 28 years as a hoof trimmer, 23 have been dealing with digital dermatitis and its effects on my clients’ cows.

For the international dairy industry, digital dermatitis (DD), more commonly known as strawberry foot, is one of these disease problems that has gone from a nuisance on a few cows in the late 1950s and 1960s to becoming the leading cause of lameness in dairy cattle in the world.

The average cost of DD per cow case is more than $105. However, when I do a farm analysis for a producer and we review the number of cows infected to examine herd costs, nearly all producers say that financial figure is too low.

Lameness is a common on-farm reason for culling cows. About 20 to 30 percent of cows in a herd are expected to become lame in any given lactation.

A cow that is lame may not immediately show symptoms but eventually lies down longer, eats less and consequently produces less milk.

The answer is the modern dairy industry still has not recognized the requirements for the hoof to function “normally.”