Prevalence of Lameness in High-Producing Holstein Cows Housed in Freestall Barns in Minnesota

Abstract

A cross-sectional study was conducted to estimate the prevalence of clinical lameness in high-producing Holstein cows housed in 50 freestall barns in Minnesota during summer. Locomotion and body condition scoring were performed on a total of 5,626 cows in 53 high-production groups. Cow records were collected from the nearest Dairy Herd Improvement Association test date, and herd characteristics were collected at the time of the visit. The mean prevalence of clinical lameness (proportion of cows with locomotion score >or=3 on a 1-to-5 scale, where 1 = normal and 5 = severely lame), and its association with lactation number, month of lactation, body condition score, and type of stall surface were evaluated. The mean prevalence of clinical lameness was 24.6%, which was 3.1 times greater, on average, than the prevalence estimated by the herd managers on each farm. The prevalence of lameness in first-lactation cows was 12.8% and prevalence increased on average at a rate of 8 percentage units per lactation. There was no association between the mean prevalence of clinical lameness and month of lactation (for months 1 to 10). Underconditioned cows had a higher prevalence of clinical lameness than normal or overconditioned cows. The prevalence of lameness was lower in freestall herds with sand stalls (17.1%) than in freestall herds with mattress stall surfaces (27.9%). Data indicate that the best 10th percentile of dairy farms had a mean prevalence of lameness of 5.4% with only 1.47% of cows with locomotion score = 4 and no cows with locomotion score = 5.

The Effect of the Housing System on the Welfare Quality of Dairy Cows

“…This suggests that free stalls expose cattle to adverse environmental conditions, which are important to the epidemiology of lameness (Cook and Nordlund, 2009). The prevalence of lameness varies in the studies made in different countries of the world, ranging from 20% (Espejo et al, 2006) to 48% (Dippel et al, 2009) for loose housing systems and from 1% to 21% in tied systems (Cook, 2003;Sogstad et al, 2005, Zurbrigg et al, 2005. In Romania data are available only for the lameness prevalence in tie-stall housing and it is similar with that obtained in this study (Popescu et al, 2010b).…”

“…In Romania data are available only for the lameness prevalence in tie-stall housing and it is similar with that obtained in this study (Popescu et al, 2010b). The increase in lameness prevalence is associated with solid concrete flooring, slippery walking alleys (Cook and Nordlund, 2009), uncomfortable and dirty barns (Cook, 2002(Cook, , 2003Espejo et al, 2006;Chapinal et al, 2013), increased degree of dirtiness in cows' hind legs (Cook, 2002;Zurbrigg et al, 2005) and zero-grazing (Haskell et al, 2006). Because in our study the mean prevalence of lameness exceeds 15%, we can state, referring to Nordlund et al (2004) that the implementation of specific measures is urgently needed to decrease lameness in 67% of the evaluated farms.…”

Genetic parameters for production, health, fertility and longevity traits in dairy cows

“…Similar to mastitis and as described in literature, lameness incidence was found to increase with parity (Barkema et al, 1994;Espejo et al, 2006). Incidences of the first lameness events were highest in the 1st month of lactation and during the first 4 months of the year, January to April.…”

Gait assessment in dairy cattle

“…Lameness, defined as a deviation in gait resulting from pain or discomfort from hoof or leg injuries and disease, can affect many cows (some studies have reported prevalence of up to 55%; Clarkson et al, 1996), reduces milk production, feed intake and fertility and is costly for producers (Green et al, 2002;O'Callaghan, 2002;Hernandez et al, 2005). Most gait evaluations assess changes relative to 'normal gait', but such changes can be difficult to judge; Whay et al (2003) reported that producers identified only one of every four cases of dairy cattle with hoof injuries or disease, and another study found that only one of every three cows were correctly identified (Espejo et al, 2006). The stoic nature of cattle means that even painful pathologies of the hoof or leg may cause little or no obvious changes in behaviour, and some pathologies such as heel erosion may cause little pain, at least in early stages of development.…”