Daily grazing time as a risk factor for alterations at the hock joint integument in dairy cows

Abstract

Structural changes lead to increasing sizes of dairy herds and a reduction in grazing use. Thus, cows spend more time in the barn and become more exposed to the barn environment. The cubicle surface can result in damages of the cows' hock joint integument. Pasture is generally seen as a beneficial environment for cows. We hypothesized that a higher number of daily grazing hours reduce the probability of hock joint alterations in dairy cows from large herds. In total, 3148 lactating cows from 36 grazing and 20 zero-grazing dairy herds, with an average herd size of 173 cows, were assessed individually on one randomly selected body side for alterations in hock integument (score 0 for no alterations or hairless areas ,2 cm, 1 for at least one hairless area of >2 cm, 2 for lesion or swelling). The cows were further assessed for lameness and cleanliness. Information on breed, parity and days in milk per cow was extracted from a national database. Cubicle surface was evaluated for each herd. Daily grazing hours 30 days before herd visits were recorded by the stockmen and later categorized as follows: zero hours (zerograzing), few hours (3 to 9) and many hours (.9 to 21). The effects of daily grazing hours and other potential cow and herd-level risk factors were evaluated for their impact on hock integument alterations using a logistic analysis with a multi-level model structure. The probability for hock integument alterations such as hair loss, lesions or swellings decreased with increasing amount of grazing hours (odds of 3 to 9 h 2.2 times and odds of .9 to 21 h 4.8 times lower than of zero-grazing). The probability for only lesions or swellings decreased with .9 to 21 grazing hours (odds 2.1 times) but not with 3 to 9 h (odds 1.0 times) compared with zero-grazing. Lameness, hard cubicle surface and Danish Holstein v. other breeds showed an increasing effect on the probability for integument alterations. Increase in days in milk only showed an increasing effect on the probability for lesions and swellings. We concluded that a long daily stay on pasture is most beneficial for the hock joint integument of a dairy cow.

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.…”

“…The median prevalence levels of lesions at the tarsal joints found in our sample seem in line with other recent publications. In Denmark as well as Canada, the combined prevalence for H, W and S at the hock was 47% (Burow et al, 2013;Zaffino Heyerhoff et al, 2014). When looking at the different alterations at the tarsal joint, separately, much higher prevalences have been found in the United Kingdom for S (100%) as well as H (92%), but W (18%) was in a comparable range (Potterton et al, 2011a).…”

A descriptive review of the prevalence and risk factors of hock lesions in dairy cows

“…Freedom from pain, injury and disease is one of the internationally-recognised 'Five Freedoms' so hock injury status is often included in welfare assessment protocols (Burow et al, 2012). Indeed, as injuries due to housing systems occur mostly around the hock (Rutherford et al, 2008), the prevalence of hock injuries may be a fair indication of the degree of discomfort induced by the housing system.…”

“…Indeed, as injuries due to housing systems occur mostly around the hock (Rutherford et al, 2008), the prevalence of hock injuries may be a fair indication of the degree of discomfort induced by the housing system. There is also a close link between hock lesions and lameness (Table 1; Brenninkmeyer et al, 2012;Burow et al, 2012;Lim et al, 2013), so reducing hock lesions may also reduce lameness.…”

Effect of grazing on the cow welfare of dairy herds evaluated by a multidimensional welfare index

“…18.6% cows with a hair loss patch v. 37.5% in the present study). Beyond general effect of summer grazing on integument, the effect of amount of daily summer grazing hours on the integument condition has recently been evaluated for Danish dairy cows (Burow et al, 2013) showing best hock integument for herds with highest level of pasture access. With regard to 'claw conformation', improvement has also been found by Corazzin et al (2010) during and after summer grazing, even though prevalences of poor 'claw conformation' were shown in their repeated observations to be only one-third to one-half as high than in the present study.…”