Hoof lesions in partly housed pasture-based dairy cows

Browne, Natasha; Hudson, Chris; Crossley, R.E.; Sugrue, Katie; Huxley, J.N.; Conneely, Muireann

doi:10.3168/jds.2022-22010

Cited by 11 publications

(11 citation statements)

References 56 publications

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“…It has to be emphasised that the study population, representing 1.5% of Swiss cattle herds, is a subset of Swiss cattle herds, as there are no comparative electronic health data from farms that do not participate in the national claw health programme [ 30 ]. As we had to rely on the willingness of farmers to participate in this study and there was no randomised selection of study herds, a selection bias has to be considered [ 10 ]. Therefore, it is possible that both well-managed farms and those who aimed to improve digit health were over-represented in the data set used in this study [ 20 ].…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…In Canadian cows, including routine whole herd trimmings (≥80%), the prevalence of DD was 14.7%, while it was 5.7% for U and 4.4% for WL [ 3 ]. An Irish study also focusing on ALs (foul of the foot, hoof abscess, DD M2, sole ulcers, toe necrosis and WLA) showed a cow prevalence of 25% during the housing period with sole ulcers being the predominant AL with 12.7% [ 10 ].…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…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 ]. In addition, lameness impairs animal welfare [ 10 ] and can lead to an increase in greenhouse gas emissions due to reduced feed utilisation efficiency in lame cows [ 11 , 12 ].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…More specifically, these studies showed that the prevalence of DD increased from 5.3% to 20.7% at the cow level between 2002 and 2021 [ 1 , 7 ], that of sole ulcers increased from 0.4% to 4.2% between 2010 and 2021 [ 1 , 13 ], and that of WL increased from 4.8% to 16.3% over the same period [ 1 , 13 ]. High herd and cow prevalences of infectious claw diseases, particularly DD, and non-infectious claw diseases, particularly WL and ulcers (U), have also been reported in the international literature [ 3 , 10 ]. In a Canadian study, for example, it was found that 93.6% of the herds were affected by DD and 92.3% were affected by sole ulcers [ 3 ].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…In a Canadian study, for example, it was found that 93.6% of the herds were affected by DD and 92.3% were affected by sole ulcers [ 3 ]. Lesions of the digits that are always associated with pain are referred to as “alarm lesions” (ALs) [ 14 ], and they frequently, but not always, result in detectable lameness [ 10 ].…”

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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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%