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“How can I recover more of my lame cows?”
That is a question posed to hoof care professionals by dairy producers frequently. The answer at face value is rather simple: Managers must focus on
proactively preventing the lesions that affect the majority of their
herds.
A lame cow is a drag on the morale and fiscal economy of any dairy farm. Neither management nor employees are happy to see cows that shuffle about the dairy.
Lameness affects nearly 25% of dairy cows worldwide. Data from the last five years suggests that when lesions occur in first lactation or before, there is a high probability the same lesion will occur again in consecutive lactations.
From growing up on a dairy farm to leading research efforts around hoof health and lameness, Dr. Gerard Cramer has devoted his life to improving the quality of life for dairy cows.
One of the most common questions dairy farmers ask is how to create an effective program to control digital dermatitis (DD), which is often followed up with the statement that despite their best efforts to run frequent footbaths, they still seem to struggle with too many cases of DD.
Lameness is simply defined as “a symptom of pain.” Lameness is the third-most common reason for culling cows, after infertility and mastitis, and it is reported that 10% of dairy cattle are culled due to this affliction.
Progressive Dairy recently asked leading experts from the Council on Dairy Cattle Breeding to provide an update on their work to better understand dairy cattle hoof health and reduce lameness via genetic solutions.
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