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

Strauss, Gerald; Stucki, Dimitri; Jury, A.; Locher, Iwan; Syring, Claudia; Ruiters, M Welham; Steiner, Adrian

doi:10.17236/sat00292

Cited by 5 publications

(9 citation statements)

References 39 publications

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“…To minimize interobserver bias, only data collected by specially trained claw trimmers were included. As described by Strauss et al (2021), training consisted of individual education sessions to classify and digitally record foot and claw disorders according to the ICAR Claw Health Atlas. The ICAR Claw Health Atlas was developed by a consortium of international claw health experts (Egger-Danner et al, 2020; available online at https: / / www .icar .org/ ICAR _Claw _Health _Atlas .pdf).…”

Section: Study Design and Farm Selectionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Farm-level risk factors for digital dermatitis in dairy cows in mountainous regions

Weber

Becker

Syring

et al. 2023

Journal of Dairy Science

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Reduction of risk factors for bovine digital dermatitis (BDD) is crucial in current disease control. However, risk factors that might arise especially in mountainous regions are unknown until now, and an adapted BDD control program is consequently missing. The objective of this observational case-control study was to identify farm-level risk factors for BDD in dairy herds in mountainous regions. To investigate predictors for the occurrence of BDD, 100 farms were visited and information about herd characteristics and management practices, potentially relevant explanatory variables for either introduction or establishment of BDD, were gathered by completing a questionnaire with the farmer or herd manager. Within-herd prevalences of BDD assessed during 3 routine claw trimmings with an interval of 6 mo before the survey were used to define cases (BDD within-herd prevalence of ≥26% during each claw trimming) and controls (no BDD cases in each of the 3 routine claw trimmings before the survey). Data were analyzed using 2 separate binomial generalized linear models according to either establishment or introduction of BDD. After prescreening, 15 of 23 explanatory variables were included in the final analysis, which showed 3 variables related to introduction and establishment, each being significantly associated with the occurrence of BDD within a farm. Results of model 1 (i.e., aspects related to BDD introduction) revealed that access to mountain pastures during the summer season (odds ratio, 95% confidence interval: 0.12, 0.04-0.35), participation in dairy shows (0.32, 0.11-0.94), and the number of new animals introduced into the farm during the last 2 yr (1.28, 1.12-1.52) were significantly associated with the occurrence of BDD. Model 2 (i.e., aspects related to BDD establishment) showed that cows kept in freestalls were at higher risk for BDD compared with those kept in tiestalls (20.65, 1.59-649.37). Furthermore, number of days between diagnosis and treatment of a BDD lesion (10.31, 3.55-81.21) and the amount of concentrate feeding (median 5 kg) per cow and day (7.72, 2.46-6.47) were positively associated with BDD occurrence. In conclusion, the findings of this study provide a set of risk factors that are associated with BDD status within herds in mountainous regions. These results may help in development of adapted control programs for BDD in dairy cows.

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Section: Study Design and Farm Selectionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Farm-level risk factors for digital dermatitis in dairy cows in mountainous regions

Weber

Becker

Syring

et al. 2023

Journal of Dairy Science

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“…Their automatic analysis using graphical diagrams illustrates various parameters, and data can be stored in national breeding companies or other institutions (Kofler, 2013;Nielsen, 2018). Such centralized national registration of hoof health data, regularly transmitted by professional trimmers, has already been established in many countries (van der Linde et al, 2010;Strauss et al, 2021). In the Netherlands and Scandinavia, this has long been established for a very large percentage of dairy cows.…”

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

The influence of productivity indicators on the culling of dairy cows in the sharply continental climate of Kazakhstan

Uskenov,

Issabekova,

Bostanova

et al. 2023

Braz. J. Biol.

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This article presents the results of the culling of cows of the Simmental and Holstein breeds in the Republic of Kazakhstan. The purpose of the research was to study the actual number of culled cows of dairy productivity in the farms of the Republic of Kazakhstan to determine its norm. The object of research were cows of Simmental (18,462 heads) and Holstein (17,862 heads) breeds in various regions of the republic. The research was carried out according to generally accepted zootechnical methods using statistical data processing using RStudio. The results of the studies showed that the percentage of culling increases in cows of the Simmental and Holstein breeds and amounts to 19.7 and 22.9%, respectively. The analysis of the retirement of full-aged cows of the Simmental breed showed that the main causes are hoof diseases (up to 26%), low reproductive function (up to 21%), low productivity (up to 18%). Holstein cows had an increase in disposals in all categories except for disposals for various reasons, for problems with reproduction, the disposal is up to 21%. The determination of the relationship between productivity and retirement in the Simmental breed cows showed that with age and increased lactation, the proportion of retired cows also increases, in the Holstein breed, with increased productivity, the percentage of culled animals also increases.

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“…Most farms were located in central Switzerland, while the French-speaking western and mountainous regions were under-represented. Since 2019, professional hoof trimmers have continuously been invited to participate in the government-initiated programme “Healthy claws–the foundation for the future”, which is headquartered at the Vetsuisse-Faculty of the University of Bern [ 1 , 21 , 24 ]. The study farms were recruited by the respective hoof trimmers joining the project or by farmers that contacted project members and were then assigned to a project hoof trimmer.…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Hoof trimmers were then individually examined in terms of their disorder allocation and claw trimming techniques on farm. The test was completed successfully if agreement with the instructor was achieved for the disorder allocation based on images from the ICAR Claw Health Atlas and the examination of digit disorders during trimming with a kappa value ≥0.6 [ 21 , 24 , 25 ]. Only data from hoof trimmers who had successfully passed the examination were included in this study (n = 40).…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…The project “Healthy claws–the foundation for the future” aims to establish regular claw health monitoring in Switzerland in close cooperation with professional hoof trimmers by electronically recording the findings on digit disorders during routine trimming [ 1 , 21 , 22 ]. The project is an innovation programme run by the Federal Office for Agriculture to promote the sustainable and efficient use of resources [ 23 ].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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

Cited by 5 publications

References 39 publications

Farm-level risk factors for digital dermatitis in dairy cows in mountainous regions

Farm-level risk factors for digital dermatitis in dairy cows in mountainous regions

The influence of productivity indicators on the culling of dairy cows in the sharply continental climate of Kazakhstan

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

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