Lameness is a severe issue that is obvious in a lot of herds around the country, with grazing herds experiencing different issues than herds that are housed full-time.
Grazing cows can often involve long walks, and in many cases, this can be a considerable distance on a daily basis, which can create issues with hoof health if cows are not looked after adequately.
Lameness severely compromises cow welfare, and is quite often a common cause of culling animals from the herd.
So now that 2024 draws to a close, it is time for farmers to put a plan in place on how they are going to control lameness throughout 2025.
For a grazing herd, there is a number of different ways of improving the grazing infrastructure and roadways that need to be considered for 2025.
Regular inspections of cow’s feet, hoof trimming and foot bathing the cows on a regular basis need to be implemented into the lameness plan.
Roadways
In a grazing herd, the lameness issues that arise the most are mechanical like bruising, white line disease and ulcers, rather than infectious diseases such as mortellaro, foul in the foot or other infections.
The good thing about mechanical hoof issues, is that they are easy to manage, but attention to detail is required when it comes to cow flow, farm roadways and gathering yards.
The area that should be prioritised for improvement are as follows:
- Specific problem areas;
- Problem road surfaces;
- Interface areas;
- Roadway verges;
- Cow flow;
- Hoof trimming;
- Foot bathing.
Standing water, poorly drained areas, broken surfaces, shading under trees are all problem areas that can cause major lameness issues on farms and they should be rectified for the new year.
Small pebbles and grit are the main cause of white line disease and if they are identified upon hoof trimming, then there is an issue there that has to be rectified. All surfaces should be smooth and well compacted.
The step from roadway to concrete can cause problems as stones are flicked up and there is no give in the concrete, so, farmers should consider laying down a strip of astro-turf to flick off the stones before stepping on concrete.
Remove any grass verges, grass and sod building up on the roadway as they will only impede drainage.
Sharp turns along the roadway or around the parlour should be removed, matting should be put down on congested areas and the collecting yard should have more than 1.5m2/cow, all in an effort to improve cow flow and reduce stress on cows’ feet.
Lameness
It is crucial that farmers make sure they are hoof trimming the cows regularly and inspecting cows on a regular basis, so, the situation does not get out of hand.
The aim of inspecting cows’ hooves once a year is to identify those that need preventative hoof trimming or other treatment.
The aim of preventative hoof trimming is to correct any overgrowth in the claws of the hoof, as overgrowth of the hoof can alter weight bearing within the hoof, and predispose the cow to becoming lame in the future.
The benefits of an inspection coming on are quite simple and are as follows:
- Prevent lameness from occurring;
- Prevent loss of BCS over the dry period;
- Help the cows calve down with ease;
- Help the cows get back in calf.
A useful tool to help identify cases in herd earlier is locomotion scoring, which assesses the movement of the cow to determine if there is a mobility or lameness issue.
Locomotion scoring is a five-point system based on both gait and posture, as follows:
- Normal: The cow is not lame; the back is flat;
- Mildly lame: The back is slightly arched when walking;
- Moderately lame: The back is arched when both standing and walking. The cow walks with short strides in one or more legs;
- Lame: The lame cow can still bear some weight on the affected foot;
- Severely lame: The back is arched; the cow refuses to bear weight on the affected foot and remains recumbent.
The hidden cost of lameness is cows not going back in calf or in severe scenarios, slipping their calf leading to other health and welfare issues and spotting them in time is crucial to this.
Foot bathing
Foot bathing will allow for a disinfectant solution to be applied to each cow’s hooves at milking time, killing infectious agents and improving hoof hygiene.
Foot bathing could prove to be a waste of time if it is done incorrectly, or worse still, it may actually contribute to the spread of the disease, thus emphasising the importance of correctly doing it.
It is essential to make sure that there is good cow flow through the foot bath and ideally, the foot bath should be close to the exit of the milking parlour.
The foot bath should be level with the ground with no steps up or down to further ensure that there is a good cow flow and that the cows are not damaging their feet going into the bath.
To allow for further ease, the bath should be wide enough – a minimum of 700-800mm wide and 3m in length will be adequate for a herd of up to 250 cows.
For herds of over 250 cows, a foot bath should be at least 2m wide to allow for two cows to pass through simultaneously, allowing for better cow flow.
The length of your foot bath is crucial as an adequate size (2.5-3m) will allow for each foot to be sufficiently immersed in the solution, as per guidance from Animal Health Ireland (AHI).
In order for this to be effective, your solution depth should be 100-125mm with the volume of solution equating to 1L/cow, meaning in a 120-cow herd, you will need 120L of solution to do the whole herd at once.
It is important to change your solution regularly. It is advised to have 1L for every cow going through and that solution should be changed after the herd has gone though the bath.
By multiplying the length by the width by the depth of the solution, measured in metres, will give you the volume of your foot bath in cubic metres and by knowing this information you can get the right concentrations.
You should consult your vet to get the most appropriate solution for your herd. Formalin, copper sulphate, or other commercial products containing peracetic or organic acids are all options.