Poor footcare is costly for the animal and the farmer
LAMENESS in dairy cows is a serious welfare issue, causing both pain and distress to the animal.
Lameness can be split into three main causes; infections of the skin around the hoof horn such as digital dermatitis (DD) and foul in the foot, claw horn problems such as sole ulcers and white line damage, and other problems such as calving damage or joint problems. Tackling the levels of infectious lameness is one of the most effective ways of reducing overall herd lameness, especially if severe cases are treated promptly.
Knowing the level of lameness in the herd is the first step in tackling the problem, which most farmers tend to underestimate. Use a consistent scoring system, which at its most basic consists of watching
each cow walk on an even, non-slip surface and deciding if she is sound or lame. The scoring system can be as simple as sound, uneven/slow and lame as long as you use the same system each time.
Lame cows tend to walk more slowly, with shorter and maybe uneven strides, they tend to arch their backs in an attempt to redistribute body weight away from the source of pain and may nod their head as they walk.
Severely lame animals find difficulty in turning corners and walking up and downhill.
Identification of lame cows is needed so that the cause of lameness can be determined and the individual can be treated promptly, however, even knowing the number of cows lame in the herd gives an overall view of lameness and is useful in assessing if lameness control strategies are working.
To help keep lameness to a minimum, cows need clean, dry feet, a safe walking surface and a clean comfortable place to lie down.
Do you trim cows feet regularly, at least once a year?
Regular foot trimming of all cows at least once a year helps to reduce herd lameness. It is particularly important where claw horn lesions, such as sole ulcers, are a problem. It is also the ideal opportunity to assess the prevalence of DD.
Many farmers employ a contract foot trimmer throughout the year to ensure that feet can be trimmed at least annually. This gives an opportunity to assess the herd and the causes of lameness at different times of year, and treat accordingly.
Farmers who are most effective at footbathing and controlling DD footbath their dry cows regularly.
Allowing the organism to thrive in the dry cow yards and then introducing heavily infected, freshly calved cows back into the milking herd is a sure way of increasing DD throughout the herd.
Do you footbath youngstock? Few farmers do this even though the average age at which farmers on the study were first seeing DD in the youngstock was 12 months. This is an average figure, so some cattle are becoming infected at a very young age. Although heifers often seem to be particularly sensitive to DD, to date no immunity to it has been shown and unless infectious lameness is controlled in dairy youngstock, they will act as a source of infection for other cows when they enter the main herd. Even though this may be seen as an extra chore when time and resources are short, it is important that youngstock are footbathed regularly to keep herd DD levels under control.
Do you footbath all year round, even if cows are at grass?
There is some evidence now that farmers who footbath throughout the grazing season have less lameness in their herds than those who do not. Footbathing cows throughout the year is an important way to reduce the DD challenge. This is critical for herds which zero graze, housing cows all year round, but also effective for cows out at grass.
Lameness can adversely affect several areas such as milk production, fertility and feeding behaviour. On average each case of lameness costs £323 on a typical farm.
Research carried out on 57 Northern Ireland dairy farms by AFBI (Hillsborough) showed that on average 33 per cent of cows in the herd were lame (range 1.5-74.7 per cent). These lameness levels were similar to those found in England and Wales (37 per cent) and other EU countries.
Due to the range in lameness levels between farms, this research suggests that dairy cow mobility could be improved through the adoption of specific practical strategies, highlighted within this section.
Mobility scoring is a system whereby cows are scored on a scale of 0-3 based on their mobility, with 0 being good and 3 being a severely lame cow.
Mobility index is the percentage of cows as an overall total of the herd not lame, that is, cows with mobility scores 0 or 1.
Dairy cows in confined systems could be more at risk, depending on the floor type. If they walk on concrete all the time, then they will be most at risk however many dairy farmers have installed rubber matting over slats and floors to ease comfort.
Foot care in lambs
On many sheep farms foot problems affect lamb thrive. At weaning lambs should be foot bathed using 10 per cent zinc sulphate or five per cent formalin solutions.
Stand the lambs in the solution for the recommended period of time and repeat every 14 days.
You may need to redesign your sheep races to ensure the standing time requirement is met.
Individual lambs with severe feet scald or infections should be treated with antibiotic sprays/injections. Mixed grazing with cattle and rotational grazing help reduce foot scald and foot rot in lambs.
Resting grazing areas from sheep for more than 14 days can help break the cycle of the foot rot bacteria.
LAMENESS is a challenge, but digital dermatitis is very easily controlled and prevented.
With 30 per cent of cows affected at any one time and probably almost 100 per cent over a lifetime, there are lots of opportunity to improve and gain better foot health.
Prioritise Feet Hygiene
To prevent digital dermatitis from occurring in the first place, the focus should be on foot hygiene.
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. Footbaths are prevention, which is better than cure.
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.
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.
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 digital dermatitis in the herd.
Therefore monitoring and management of digital dermatitis on a continual (weekly) basis will make it cost effective.
Hoofsure Endurance range
Dr. Nick Bell states 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 well placed to help dairy, beef and sheep farms get on top of and control lameness.
It is a proprietary footbath solution with over 40 trials across three continents. Notable research on cattle shows it is up to 44 per cent more effective than formalin and copper sulfate with proven antibacterial activity.
For sheep, an independent clinical study on the effectiveness of footbath solutions found that 65 per cent of sheep improved after one pass through a footbath containing Hoofsure Endurance at 2 per cent dilution rate.
Very cost-effective formula - highly concentrated allowing up to 500 cow passes per 200 litre footbath and up to 400 sheep passes per 100 litre footbath.
With innovation at the heart of Provita, our dedicated Research and Development team has now developed a new improved formula. Utilising proprietary technology, the new formula is 33 per cent faster acting and provides more contact time on the hoof.
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For further information, please call 0800 328 4982 or email info@ provita.co.uk. References available on request.