Establishment of key indicators and limit values for assessment of claw health of cattle in Switzerland

Huber, S.; Bernhard, Johanna Karin; Syring, Claudia; Steiner, Adrian

doi:10.17236/sat00285

Cited by 5 publications

(8 citation statements)

References 23 publications

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“…On the other hand, the claws of heifers and first-lactation cows have not yet been exposed to unilateral pressure loads and negative environmental influences such as hard floors, humid housing conditions, and metabolic and thus laminitis-related events for as long as the claws of multiparous cows [ 8 , 55 , 56 , 57 ]. The mean lameness incidence of 7.7% without LCS 4 and 5 scores, as observed in this study, is well below ≤10%, which is reported as the norm key indicator for lameness prevalence in well-managed dairy herds [ 6 , 58 , 59 ].…”

Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 49%

“…Therefore, the geometric severity score values in the CSS evaluation for the three SARA groups were also calculated without inclusion of HHE values. HHE is not usually associated with lameness, and some HHE prevalence is unavoidable even in cows kept in well-managed loose housing [ 6 , 59 , 73 ]. The cows used in this study had dry and comfortable deep straw-bedded areas and cubicles available during the entire study period.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Effects of High Concentrate-Induced Subacute Ruminal Acidosis Severity on Claw Health in First-Lactation Holstein Cows

Kofler

Hoefler

Hartinger

et al. 2023

Animals

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This study aimed to evaluate the effects of diet-induced subacute rumen acidosis (SARA) severity during transition and the early lactation period on claw health in 24 first-lactation Holstein heifers. All heifers were fed a 30% concentrate (in dry matter) close-up ration three weeks before calving, then switched to a high-concentrate ration (60% dry matter), which was fed until the 70th day in milk (DIM) to induce SARA. Thereafter, all cows were fed the same post-SARA ration with around 36% concentrate in dry matter. Hoof trimming was performed before calving (visit 1), at 70 (visit 2) and at 160 DIM (visit 3). All claw lesions were recorded, and a Cow Claw Score (CCS) was calculated for each cow. Locomotion scores (LCS 1–5) were assessed at two-week intervals. Intraruminal sensors for continuous pH measurements were used to determine SARA (pH below 5.8 for more than 330 min in 24 h). The cluster analysis grouped the cows retrospectively into light (≤11%; n = 9), moderate (>11–<30%; n = 7), and severe (>30%; n = 8) SARA groups, based on the percentage of days individual cows experienced SARA. Statistically significant differences were found between SARA groups light and severe in terms of lameness incidence (p = 0.023), but not for LCS and claw lesion prevalence. Further, the analysis of maximum likelihood estimates revealed that for each day experiencing SARA, the likelihood of becoming lame increased by 2.52% (p = 0.0257). A significant increase in white line lesion prevalence was observed between visits 2 and 3 in the severe SARA group. The mean CCS in severe SARA group cows were higher at each visit compared to cows in the other two groups, but without statistical significance. Overall, this is the first study indicating that first-lactation cows fed a similar high-concentrate diet but with a higher severity of SARA tended to have poorer claw health, albeit with only partial statistical evidence.

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Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 49%

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Effects of High Concentrate-Induced Subacute Ruminal Acidosis Severity on Claw Health in First-Lactation Holstein Cows

Kofler

Hoefler

Hartinger

et al. 2023

Animals

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“…However, the exported data do not represent all farms that the trimmers work on, as only data from voluntarily participating farms with a valid written consent were exported to the data storage platform “ClawNet”. Using hoof trimmers data, Cohen’s kappa values of ≥0.6 for interobserver reliability are considered to have a substantial, but not excellent, strength of agreement [ 1 , 4 , 14 ]. A potential bias in prevalence estimates may be introduced due to the non-ideal sensitivity and specificity of this observer reliability test.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Lesions of the digits and associated lameness have been receiving increasing amounts of attention in the literature on cattle farming worldwide [ 1 , 2 , 3 ]. The consequences of these disorders are manifold: they are the third-most-common cause of culling in dairy herds, along with having detrimental effects on udder health and fertility [ 1 , 4 , 5 , 6 , 7 ]. They result in significant economic losses due to reduced feed intake by the affected animals with a subsequent decline in the milk yield [ 1 , 8 , 9 ].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Prevalence of Painful Lesions of the Digits and Risk Factors Associated with Digital Dermatitis, Ulcers and White Line Disease on Swiss Cattle Farms

Fürmann,

Syring,

Becker

et al. 2024

Animals

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The first aim of this study was to calculate the prevalence of painful lesions of the digits (“alarm” lesions; ALs) in Swiss dairy herds and cow–calf operations over a three-year study period. The following ALs were included in the calculation: the M2 stage of digital dermatitis (DD M2), ulcers (U), white line fissures (WLF) of moderate and high severity, white line abscesses (WLA), interdigital phlegmon (IP) and swelling of the coronet and/or bulb (SW). Between February 2020 and February 2023, digit disorders were electronically recorded during routine trimmings by 40 specially trained hoof trimmers on Swiss cattle farms participating in the national claw health programme. The data set used consisted of over 35,000 observations from almost 25,000 cows from 702 herds. While at the herd-level, the predominant AL documented in 2022 was U with 50.3% followed by WLF with 38.1%, at the cow-level, in 2022, it was DD M2 with 5.4% followed by U with 3.7%. During the study period, within-herd prevalences of ALs ranged from 0.0% to a maximum of 66.1% in 2020. The second aim of this study was to determine herd- and cow-level risk factors associated with digital dermatitis (DD), U and white line disease (WL) in dairy cows using data from 2022. While for DD, analysed herd-level factors appeared to have a greater effect on the probability of its occurrence, the presence of U and WL was mainly associated with the analysed cow-level factors. The risk for DD increased with a higher herd trimming frequency. Herds kept in tie stalls had a lower risk for DD and WL and a higher risk for U compared to herds kept in loose housing systems. Herds with predominantly Holstein Friesian cows as well as Holstein Friesian cows had a higher risk for the occurrence of DD compared to herds and cows of other breeds. With increasing parity, cows had a higher risk of developing U and WL, whereas for DD, parity was negatively associated with prevalence. Cows trimmed during the grazing period had a higher risk of U and WL than cows trimmed during the housing period. These findings may contribute to improve management measures affecting the health of the digits in farms with structures similar to those evaluated in the current study, such as small herds with frequent access to pasture. Further research is warranted to demonstrate how measures addressing the current results combined with those of individual herd risk assessments might contribute to an improvement in the health of the digits in the respective dairy herds.

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“…29,35,46 Verwendung finden diese Daten unter anderem im Krankheitsmonitoring, dem Benchmarking von Betrieben und der genetischen Evaluation von Klauenerkrankungen. 19,40,46 Zusätzlich werden diese Daten in der Berechnung und Anpassung von Kennzahlen zur Klauengesundheit 22,30 sowie in der Entwicklung und Überprüfung von Klauengesundheitskonzepten verwendet. 23 Die Basis für ein effizientes Klauengesundheitsmonitoring bildet die digitale Dokumentation und automatisierte Auswertungen mit grafischen Darstellungen verschiedener Parameter 28,29 , sowie eine zentrale Datenablage.…”

Section: Evaluation Of a Novel Training Course For Hoof Trimmers To P...unclassified

Evaluation of a novel training course for hoof trimmers to participate in a Swiss national cattle claw health monitoring programme

Strauss

Stucki

Jury

et al. 2021

SAT

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Establishment of key indicators and limit values for assessment of claw health of cattle in Switzerland

Cited by 5 publications

References 23 publications

Effects of High Concentrate-Induced Subacute Ruminal Acidosis Severity on Claw Health in First-Lactation Holstein Cows

Effects of High Concentrate-Induced Subacute Ruminal Acidosis Severity on Claw Health in First-Lactation Holstein Cows

Prevalence of Painful Lesions of the Digits and Risk Factors Associated with Digital Dermatitis, Ulcers and White Line Disease on Swiss Cattle Farms

Evaluation of a novel training course for hoof trimmers to participate in a Swiss national cattle claw health monitoring programme

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