I have been a dairy nutritionist for over 33 years, and I am usually the first to know when one of my dairies is having hoof health problems. While many issues with cow health point back to nutrition, I have found that hoof problems, more often than not, stem from environmental causes rather than nutrition.

Ask any dairy producer what their number one expense is, and they’re likely to say, “feed.” The average 800-cow dairy farm spends more than $150,000 on feed each month and over $1.8 million every year.

When hoof health records showed digital dermatitis (DD) was out of control at a Minnesota dairy, the owners installed automatic scrapers to keep alleyways and hooves cleaner. In addition, they now modify footbath protocols when reports indicate DD is escalating.

Acknowledged as a leading cause of lameness in the dairy industry, digital dermatitis (DD) is a widespread problem present on the majority of U.S. dairies. Also known as hairy heel warts, this costly and highly contagious disease progresses quickly. If not caught in the early stages, DD can result in permanent hoof damage.

When hoof trimmer Rick Trinko of Middleton, Wisconsin, began seeing a large number of cows at one dairy with white-line hemorrhages in zone 2, he was alarmed. The typical site for a white-line hemorrhage is zone 3, and it can indicate the early stages of white-line disease.