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In my prior article, I showed the financial investment via time for a hoof trimmer to record foot health. This requires correct lesion identification skills and the ability to communicate. The farmer needs his hoof health team, which must consist of a veterinarian, feed consultant, breed improvement specialist and hoof trimmer, and each team member should have access to the recorded observations.
Time is money. Business owners and managers know that time management is the basis of a successful business, and good recordkeeping is vital to provide direction. When it comes to taking care of your herd’s hoof health, quality records are invaluable to establishing management decisions and well worth the time.
While summer is one of the more pleasant times to look forward to after a rough winter and wet spring, it requires a bit of annual thought to protect the production level the dairy farm seeks to achieve. Weather variability, too, can provide challenges that influence foot health of dairy cattle.
The dry cow, in my view, is the most important care element for the dairy herd. What happens to the dry cow in that period makes or breaks a fresh cow.
For those farms that trim cows at dry-off and take the time to inspect feet, I commend your proaction, but I wish to point out a few subtleties that may give pause for thought.
The dry cow, in my view, is the most important care element for the dairy herd. What happens to the dry cow in that period makes or breaks a fresh cow.
The Ontario Dairy Hoof Health Project was created to investigate cases of dairy cattle lameness due to claw lesions from structural damage to and/or infections of hoof (claw) tissues.
“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.
“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.
