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Abstract

Reproductive physiology is one of the first systems to be affected when any cause of imbalance is present in an organism, and becomes relevant in tropical dairy farming, where high demands are required to maintain homeostasis and produce. Lameness is a common problem related to reproductive health and postpartum conception seems to be the most affected trait. The locomotion score system has demonstrated to be a reliable tool for the early detection of lameness. In this study, 52 Jersey milking cows, aged from 3 to 14 years, were visually scored once (1 non-lame, 2 slightly-lame, 3 moderately-lame, 4 lame and 5 severely-lame) and lactation, services per conception, and days open was registered. Scores ≥3 were considered as clinical lameness. Healthy, slightly-, moderately- and severely-lame cows required about 3 to 4 inseminations to conceive, whereas it was doubled in cows scored as lame-. Cows scored as moderately-lame, lame, and severely-lame had two to three times greater of days open than that of those scored as healthy and slightly-lame. Besides, the herd’s conception rate was reduced from 45.09% to 21.84% when clinical lame cows were included in the analysis. Days open and number of inseminations are considered hidden costs in dairy herds, therefore, the locomotion score should be considered as a routine analysis to reduce the impact of lameness on reproductive performance, even more so when it comes to humid tropical conditions, where high levels of humidity and temperature could rapidly aggravate lameness, increasing the costs of both, postpartum conception and hoof treatment.