Breed and Season Effects on the Claw Lesions of Dairy Cows in Ardebil, Iran

Abstract

Seasonal and breed effects on the prevalence and type of claw lesions were investigated on 24854 cases of culled cows at central abattoir in the vicinity of Ardebil in Iran during twelve consecutive months. After recording information for each case, the feet were amputated and ground surface of the claws were pared for more morphopathological study. The prevalence rate of claw lesion among all cases was 24.2 per cent. The claws lesion in local cows (24.4 %) was more than imported Holstein cows (22.5 %) (P< 0.05). Most lesions occurred in the feet; the commonest were heel horn erosion (48.3 %), white line disease (25.1 %), laminitis (12.2 %), sole ulcer (10.3 %) and septic traumatic pododermatitis (4.1 %). There was a significant effect of the frequent claw lesions in each breed (P< 0.05). Heel horn erosion was the commonest lesion in Holstein cows (41.2 %) and local cows (49.1 %) and septic traumatic pododermatitis in Holstein cows (4.7 %) and laminitis in local cows (3.4 %) were the lowest lesions. White line disease was ranked second in Holstein cows (24.2 %) and local cows (25.1 %). Significant differences were not seen between the season and claw lesions (P> 0.05). However, data analysis also revealed that claw lesions occurred with greater frequency during the warm season in local and Holstein cows. The results obtained from this study demonstrate that lameness is an important problem in dairy herd in Ardebil. Poor management in hoof trimming, locomotion monitoring and poor quality of floors were the common causes of claw lesions.

İran'ın Kuzeybatısında Kesilen Büyükbaş Hayvanlarda Ayak Lezyonlarının Görülme Sıklığı

“…This study was performed on hoof and digit lesions of slaughtered cattle. Our findings showed that 61.5% of the cattle examined had at least one lesion in their feet, which is much higher than that of the results of a similar study in the neighbour province, Ardabil, reporting 24.2% of slaughtered cases had hoof lesions (15). Given that in the surveyed geographical area, cattle are usually culled if keeping them is not justified because of low milk yield or lameness, it is likely that the prevalence of lameness in the livestock population of the area is less than our finding.…”

“…Cattle that are in the pasture during the day and are housed in the stall at night are also at greater risk of developing the lesion than those are in the pasture all the time (25); therefore, it seems that this factor, as well as the inappropriate floor of the stalls, caused 7.75% of white line disease in this study. Although, the prevalence of this lesion in a similar study in Ardabil was higher (25.1%) than our findings, which may also be related to the differences in moisture (15).…”

Identification of Cow-related Health Disorders Affecting the Culling in Torbat-e Jam Dairy Farms

“…In addition to, Pinedo and de Vries (2010) and Miller et al (2008) indicated that calving in hot season (spring and summer) increased the risk of cows leaving the herd compared to calving in cool season (fall and winter). One of the reasons for increasing the risk of cows leaving the herd in hot season (spring and summer) may be increase the incidence of some disorders such as claw lesions (Madadzadeh et al, 2013). On the other hand, increasing the risk of cows leaving the herd in hot season (spring and summer) may also be related to the influence of seasonal characteristic differences on cow health, milk production level, feed availability, milk price, conception rate and profitability (Delorenzo et al, 1992;Hadley et al, 2006).…”