Mortellaro is an issue that many farmers have to deal with – it is a stubborn hoof disease that can occur on all cattle farms.
It is estimated across a range of dairy systems in Ireland that one in three cows are lame at any given time.
Lame dairy cows give less milk and are more likely to be reproductively inefficient and have an increased risk of culling.
It is estimated that a single case of a sole ulcer in a single lactation would cost €700, and the cost of mortellaro can lead to an estimated loss of approximately €107 per case per lactation (with it being common for 40% of the herd to be experiencing these lesions).
Lameness is a challenge, but mortellaro can be easily controlled and prevented.
Prioritise feet hygiene and footbath management
Once an animal is infected with digital dermatitis, she will carry the disease with her for the rest of her life.
One way to manage this, is through proper footbath use and identifying active lesions for timely treatment. The goal is not to focus solely on treatment, but to prevent new infections by disinfecting feet, ideally every day, if not every milking.
Cows with active lesions can be identified and promptly treated to reduce the pain and send the lesion to a healing state that does not infect other healthy feet.
Footbathing also appears to help keep infected cows free from infection if done properly at the right concentration of product. Footbaths are prevention, which is better than cure.
Using the footbath will require some tinkering and adjustment at various times throughout the whole year.
It is almost like treating the footbath like a dial, where at certain times you will need to increase or decrease the footbath solution concentration and frequency of use to match the level of mortellaro in the herd.
How to choose a footbath solution?
While formalin and copper sulphate are popular for footbathing, copper is not licensed due to its environmental toxicity, and there are safety restrictions in place on formalin due to its carcinogenic properties.
Eventually, the dairy industry won’t be able to use either.
Hoofsure Endurance range – Dr. Nick Bell stated that Hoofsure Endurance is “the only product I’ve ever trialled that has performed as well as formalin at preventing new lesions, and I’ve trialled a lot of products”.
Hoofsure Endurance is highly concentrated and is used at 1% for maintenance and 2% for higher challenge times.
With 500 cow passes per 200L footbath and up to 5000 cows per 20L, it is cost-effective, as well as safe, non-toxic and scientifically proven.
Target lesions directly
For topical application to lesions, Provita Animal Health developed Hoofsure Konquest Hoof Gel in conjunction with Queens University Belfast and Dr. Roger Blowey, Specialist in Cattle (dairy).
Konquest Hoof Gel is a proprietary concentrated blend of organic acids and essential oils.
It is formulated to possess bio-adhesive and potent penetrating action, so it sticks to the skin and hoof, breaks down biofilms and effectively gets to the source of infection.
A recent randomised controlled trial by Dr. Nick Bell and Dr. James Wilson compared Konquest to a conventional topical antibiotic treatment for mortellaro.
Results showed reduction in lesion size and that 85% of digital dermatitis lesions improved and healed with one application.
With the need to reduce the use of antimicrobials in the dairy industry, Konquest should be considered a suitable alternative to conventional antibiotic treatments.
Hoofsure Endurance is trialled and tested.
Numerous reports have been published demonstrating the rapid effectiveness of Hoofsure Endurance when used regularly as a preventive or treatment agent. Among some of the published findings are the following:
- Hoofsure Endurance compared to Copper Sulphate:
A US trial performed in University of Kentucky using three herds of 120, 170 and 200 milking Holsteins compared Hoofsure Endurance to copper sulphate foot bath in parallel experiments.
Hoofsure Endurance reduced digital dermatitis levels by 49% while copper sulphate had reduced it by 46%.
This trial also showed that with Hoofsure Endurance, there was a reduction in hoof infection from 57% at the beginning of the trial period to 37% at the end of the trial period.
- Hoofsure Endurance compared to Formalin Footbath:
In field studies carried out by the Royal Veterinary College London, an evaluation was performed on 90 lame cows in a 24-week split footbath study comparing Hoofsure Endurance to formalin footbath.
Hoofsure Endurance reduced digital dermatitis by 62% and with formalin the reduction 54%.
- Hoofsure Konquest Gel compared to Oxytetracycline Spray:
A trial reported in the US in 2022 compared the efficacy of Hoofsure Konquest Gel to Oxytetracycline spray in 284 bovine cases, when directly applied to the foot lesions.
Cure rates from the antibiotic spray and Hoofsure Konquest Gel ranged from 66% to 76%, and there was no statistical difference between the efficacy of two treatments.
Hence Hoofsure Konquest has the potential to reduce antibiotic usage as a treatment for lameness problems.
- Hoofsure Endurance for Sheep
A recent independent study showed that 65% of sheep with feet problems showed improvement after one pass through a footbath containing “Hoofsure Endurance” at 2%. (In house data)
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