The buzzwords in the industry right now are animal welfare, lameness and cow comfort. The general public and food retail giants such as Walmart and Tim Horton’s that purchase our dairy products want more than just a quality, well-priced glass of milk; they want assurance the animals producing this product are well cared for.

As a follow-up to his popular article, "Individual cow care to lower lameness in your herd," we asked author Jamie Sullivan the following question: Q. Have lameness incidents continued to decline or have they remained about the same? What's the next step in hoof health beyond a focus on individual cow care? In this herd and my other clients' herds that have adopted the “individual cow care and 150-day trim protocol," we have seen continued improvement in hoof health. Does that mean we don’t have some months where there is an increase in lameness? No.