Securing cow longevity and mobility through good cow welfare measures, early detection of lameness and basic prevention measures in an Irish production system, was the theme of the day at the Hoof Health Symposium at Teagasc, Moorepark.
The Hoof Health Symposium was a Pharvet event in partnership with XLvets and Teagasc.
The focus of the event was to elevate hoof care as a priority on farm and in the industry by bringing together hoof care stakeholders from all corners of the industry.
The event created a blueprint for the best practices in hoof care on Irish farm through education, in theory and in practice.
The main talking point on the day was the fact that most young people are not getting enough education when it comes to lameness and that something needs to change.
Veterinary surgeon, dairy specialist, Ger Cusack told onlookers that “nearly 10% of the cows in this country are lame, that’s over 200,000 cows, and if we want to stay sustainable and produce quality milk, that has to change”.
Lameness
Dr. Nick Bell of Herd Health Consultancy is a specialist vet in hoof care and carries out frequent locomotion scoring for farmers across the UK.
Dr. Bell told attendees that “locomotion and mobility scoring is the biggest predictor in lameness and is crucial for early detection of any form of lameness”.
The different score of mobility scoring are as follows:
- Score 0: the cow has good mobility;
- Score 1: the cow has imperfect mobility;
- Score 2: the cow has impaired mobility;
- Score 3: the cow has severely impaired mobility.
During his display, farmers and hoof parers had the chance to contribute by voting what the most prevalent type of lameness was on Irish farms, in which digital dermatitis was the most common.
“Everyone knows their replacement rates, their conception rates, their somatic cell count, but no one knows their mobility index and that needs to change,” added Dr. Bell.
By the time a cow is at the back of the herd with bad hooves, it is often too late, and Dr. Bell said the best way of identifying these cows, is to follow them out after each batch at milking or scoring the herd.
He went on to say that cows need to be treated immediately, and “not when there is a few built up to make it worth while for the parer”, as by then it could be too late for some cows, making them harder to treat.
Digital dermatitis and white line
Dr. Nick Bell told attendees that the single most effective way of reducing digital dermatitis in your herd is by cleaning and disinfecting the hoof consistently.
“Farmers need to be foot bathing regularly and have a foot bath that is easy fill and easy clean so it is not a big job whenever you want to do it,” added the hoof care specialist.
He went on to say that “digital dermatitis is like mastitis in the foot, and so, we have to make foot bathing as easy as possible.”
Talking about white line disease in the hoof, Dr. Bell told the crowds that experts believe that “cows will not be on concrete in the next 20 year”.
Experts seem to believe that when there is more education around bruising in the hoof, sole ulcers and white line disease, people will realise the detrimental effects concrete has on the hoof.
However, Dr. Bell believes that down the line, there will be more rubber in conjunction with concrete, as he feels it will be hard to see no concrete in such a short space of time.
Targeted rubber in areas of congestion and turning points will give you a great return of investment and improve cow flow drastically urged Dr. Bell.
The groove dimensions as per Dr. Bell should be as follows:
- Width of 1.9cm;
- Depth of 1.3cm;
- Spacing of 8.3cm on center.
Dr. Bell said that “grooving is an absolute disaster for white line, as poorly deigned grooves can create pressure points and badly hurt cows’ hooves”.
He added that that grooving in a straight line parallel to the feed space can work well with good deep grooves to take away the surface water.