As I’ve talked to producers, almost everyone can experience improvements – even those who were satisfied with their trim losses and health outcomes. Surprisingly, the protocol offering these results has been around for decades: the humble footbath.

Good hoof health is a core factor for productive, problem-free cows. Longevity and lifetime production directly improve profitability on dairy farms; however, management must remain vigilant with respect to the health and welfare of the animal.

In the hoof-trimming arena, we deal very closely with animal welfare, which is where these images focus on. I wanted to take on the challenge, and my goal was to show the care and effort that goes into caring for animals.

There seems to be a lot of confusion in the dairy industry about the ability to benefit from an anaerobic digester and still use copper in a hoof care program. 

In a recent Progressive Dairy Podcast episode, Jamie Sullivan of Rippleview Hoofcare addressed some misconceptions surrounding hoof care, gave his thoughts on where hoof health priorities should lie and challenged the dairy industry to reframe thinking around lameness.

Lameness is an issue that impacts every part of the supply chain – not just the welfare and health of cows but also the farmers and their teams working to maintain herd productivity, as well as the dairy processors and retailers seeking to build trust in their brand.

Most dairy cows have potentially disease-causing bacteria in their reproductive tract in low abundance. Cows develop uterine infection and disease when the pathogens overgrow and become dominant. Cows need to have a rapid, robust and well-regulated inflammatory response in the uterus during and immediately after calving to detach the placenta, keep bacterial pathogens in check and start uterine repair.

It is important to provide excellent hoof care to cows because lame cows can go from bad to worse quickly. If a lame cow has to wait to be treated, she can experience longer recovery time, and more necrotic tissue and permanent damage to her pedal bone.

The team of Dr. Jen Walker, Dr. Gerard Cramer and Jamie Sullivan are using their expertise and experience to educate, train and promote the principles of hoof care, and proper functional and therapeutic trimming techniques for improved animal welfare on farms through the Kinder Hoof Care Academy Trimmer Training.

The welfare of a lame cow is affected in at least three ways: 1) it interferes with natural behaviors such as walking, lying down and interacting with herdmates; 2) it impairs normal function by reducing milk production and reproductive efficiency; and 3) the pain impacts the cow’s affective states of physical and mental well-being. What can we do to manage lameness more effectively and improve the welfare of cows that develop lameness?