Prevalence and risk factors for skin lesions on legs of dairy cattle housed in freestalls in Norway

Abstract

Appropriate indoor housing facilities for dairy cattle promote improved animal welfare. Skin alterations are an indicator of dysfunctional housing. The purpose was to determine the relationship between different housing design and skin lesions, hence providing farmers more insight into how to reduce the occurrence of lesions. A cross-sectional study was conducted on 2,335 animals in 232 Norwegian freestall-housed dairy cattle from September 2006 to June 2007. A model was established to investigate risk factors related to the presence of lesions including hair loss, swelling, and wounds on the legs of dairy cattle. Separate models were developed to investigate risk factors related to the presence of knee and hock lesions. Previously described risk factors were included in the models, together with a questionnaire addressing the attitude of the farmer toward the animals. Mean (+/- SD) prevalence for hock lesions was 60.5 +/- 21.2% with a median value of 64%. The prevalence for knee lesions was 35.3 +/- 25.7% with a median of 30%. Cows in herds with a soft freestall base had an odds ratio (OR) for knee and hock lesions of 0.22 (0.06 to 0.73) and 0.62 (0.48 to 0.80), respectively, compared with those in herds with a harder freestall base, such as concrete and compact rubber mats. There was an increased risk of hock lesions when the length in the lying area in a double-row freestall was >250 cm (OR = 2.96; 1.02 to 8.60) compared with </=250 cm, and when the length of the lying area against a wall was >260 cm (OR = 2.11; 1.53 to 2.90) compared with < or =260 cm. The risk for knee lesions increased if a row against a wall was >270 cm (OR = 1.72; 1.09 to 2.72) compared with < or =270 cm. Hock lesions were associated with lame cows (OR = 5.76; 1.14 to 29.18) versus nonlame cows, and with cows in their second or higher parity (OR = 1.27; 1.06 to 1.52) versus cows in their first parity. Knee lesions were associated with farmers' negative attitudes toward animals in pain (OR = 3.28; 1.79 to 6.03) versus those with positive attitudes; cows in the beginning of their lactation (OR = 1.84; 1.24 to 2.74) versus those at the end of their lactation; and tall animals (OR = 1.27; 1.00 to 1.61) versus shorter animals. These results show that freestall design is important with respect to skin lesions as are the characteristics of individual animals and the farmer.

Register-based predictors of violations of animal welfare legislation in dairy herds

“…However, the dichotomized variable contributed significantly to the multivariable model, indicating an interaction between the variables all being managerial aspects. The low number of veterinary treatment records could reflect the farmers' treatment threshold, which is in line with findings by Kielland et al (2009) showing that farmers with low empathy scores towards cattle also ranked painful conditions lower than farmers with a positive attitude and high empathy scores. In addition, farmers with positive attitudes also had better cow welfare because of lower prevalence of skin lesions.…”

“…Results might have been different, if the outcome definition had been based upon animal-based measures instead. Previous risk factor studies have only investigated single components of animal welfare like animal-based measures, for example, lameness prevalence (Alban et al, 1996;Green et al, 2002;Haskell et al, 2006;Dippel et al, 2009), hock lesions (Rutherford et al, 2008;Kielland et al, 2009) or mortality (Thomsen et al, 2004;Alvåsen et al, 2012). Although other studies have evaluated register data performance in predicting herd animal welfare, there have been major differences in the case definition of animal welfare.…”

Investigating integument alterations in cubicle housed dairy cows: which types and locations can be combined?

“…Kielland et al, 2009;Husfeldt and Endres, 2012;Burow et al, 2013). Highest values, especially for W and S, were found at the carpal and tarsal joints and the calcanei.…”

“…Mülleder and Waiblinger, 2004;Veissier et al, 2004;Kielland et al, 2009). They reflect an impairment of the cows' welfare as wounds and swellings may be painful, and alterations including hairless areas reflect repeated conflicts of the cow with its environment.…”

“…Spycher et al, 2002;Fulwider et al, 2007;Norring et al, 2008). Some recent studies also looked at prevalences and possible influencing factors at the neck (Kielland et al, 2010;Zaffino Heyerhoff et al, 2014), the hip bone region and hind leg apart from hock and knee (Rouha-Mülleder et al, 2010), as well as the hips, knees, fetlocks and thighs (Kielland et al, 2009). It is well known that lesions often occur at protruding parts of the cows' body, for example, the lateral tarsal joint and the dorsal calcanei (Weary and Taszkun, 2000), but to date no study is available examining the whole body and comparing prevalence values for the different body parts of dairy cows in cubicle housing.…”