Prevalence of Claw Disorders in Dutch Dairy Cows Exposed to Several Floor Systems

Abstract

Claw health was examined in an observational study on Dutch dairy farms with either a slatted floor (SL), slatted floor with manure scraper (SL-SCR), solid concrete floor (SCF), a straw yard (SY), or a zero-grazing feeding system (ZG). Hooves of cows' hind legs were examined for the presence and severity of claw disorders during hoof trimming events at the end of the pasture (P-study) and housing period (H-study). The number of cows in each study was 3078 (49 herds) and 3190 (47 herds), respectively. Due to a different hoof trimming strategy, data collected during both observation periods in SY herds (638 cows; 16 herds) were combined. Cows in straw yards (SY) had by far the lowest numbers of claw disorders. Over 80% of cows exposed to concrete flooring had at least one claw disorder at the time of observation, whereas on SY surfaces, this percentage was between 55 and 60. Cows on SL-SCR were less frequently affected by interdigital dermatitis/heel erosion (IDHE) and digital dermatitis (DD) than cows on SL (reference floor system). Little difference in claw health was found between SF and SL. The ZG cows were at higher risk (OR > 2) for most claw disorders in the P-study, whereas in the H-study, ZG cows showed less IDHE, sole hemorrhage, and sole ulcer. All herds on concrete flooring (SL, SL-SCR, SCF, ZG) were infected by DD, resulting in an average cow level prevalence of 30%. This indicates that the level of DD infection has increased considerably over the last 10 yr in The Netherlands.

Gait assessment in dairy cattle

“…For instance, Somers et al (2003) recorded higher incidences of hoof disorders for cows on concrete than on straw, and Vokey et al (2001) found higher sole haemorrhage scores for cows housed on concrete than on rubber. Although it is recognized that flooring can cause hoof pathologies, little is known about the immediate effects of flooring on gait.…”

Assessing the welfare impact of foot disorders in dairy cattle by a modeling approach

“…A total of seven different foot disorders were distinguished, based on Somers et al (2003), as described in the study by Bruijnis et al (2010): the primary foot disorders IP, IDHE, digital dermatitis (DD) and sole hemorrhage (SoH), and the secondary foot disorders Welfare Impact of Foot Disorders (subsequent to or as a consequence of another foot disorder) white line disease (WLD), sole ulcer (SUL) and interdigital hyperplasia (HYP). Briefly, IP is an acute, painful inflammation (Blowey and Weaver, 2003).…”

“…Briefly, IP is an acute, painful inflammation (Blowey and Weaver, 2003). IDHE were taken together as in other studies (Somers et al, 2003). IDHE is an epidermitis of the interdigital skin extending to the dermis, and in many cases the infection extends to the heel horn.…”

“…The model generates outcomes on the duration and the incidence of the different foot disorders, specified for subclinical and clinical stages. Data by Somers et al (2003) and Frankena et al (2009), a large field study on the occurrence of foot disorders on Dutch dairy farms (corresponding to our default farm), provided part of the underlying information and was complemented with information on foot disorders (a.o. Lischer et al, 2001;Holzhauer, 2006;Nielsen et al, 2009).…”

“…Approximately 80% of the dairy cows have one or more foot disorders (Somers et al, 2003) and about a third of these cows are visibly lame (Frankena et al, 2009). The incidence of lameness is reported to be over 50% (Hedges et al, 2001).…”