Lameness can be a frustrating and costly issue for farmers – on average, one lameness case can cost a dairy farmer €300/year.
This includes: €50 on treatment; €100 from loss of yield; €100 on increased culling (10% of lameness cases are culled); and €50 from loss in fertility.
The recent dry weather has meant many farms saw growth rates plummet, with many farms forced to introduce silage into cows’ diets.
Other farmers made the decision to graze some of the farm that is closed for second-cut silage.
Although farmers were lucky to have access to these areas, most of these paddocks will have been the futherest away – which may now lead to lameness issues.
A combination of the hard ground and increase distance having to be walked, has led to the perfect storm for lameness issues to arise on farms.
Lameness
Lameness is caused by an injury or disease in the foot or leg of a cow. It is one of the most important welfare issues faced by dairy farmers.
Lameness can be broken down into two main categories: clinical and subclinical.
Clinical lameness is when a cow’s walking is obviously affected. The cow is usually at the back of the herd and in some cases is unwilling to put pressure on the affected leg/foot.
Subclinical is difficult to detect, without the use of mobility scoring or locomotion scoring.
Mobility scoring
Spotting cows that are in the advanced stages of lameness is usually quite simple, but mobility scoring is a great way of identifying cows that are in the early stages of lameness.
Mobility scoring is a system whereby cows are scored on a scale of 0-3 based on their mobility, with zero being good and three being a severely lame cow.
This is important because the earlier you treat a cow, the greater the chance of recovery.
Mobility score:
- 0 – perfectly normal;
- 1 – slightly lame and it is difficult to detect which foot she is lame on;
- 2 – clinically lame and easily identifiable;
- 3 – severely lame and in a lot of pain.
Scoring should be completed on a level, smooth surface – the ideal time for this to be completed is when the cows are coming in or leaving after milking.
The goal of mobility scoring is to identify cows that require treatment before the issue has developed further.
Identifying cows earlier will reduce the treatment cost and also prevent the animal from suffering.