Rate of Horn Growth, Wear and Sole Thickness of Dairy Cattle in a Free Stall Barn with Concrete and Rubber Flooring

Abstract

To compare horn growth, wear and sole thickness, twenty-four mature dairy cows were ranked in order according to lactation number and calving date. Using a randomized block design, each group of two cows was randomly assigned in ranked order to either the experimental group (housed on rubber mat, group R) or the control group (housed on concrete, group C). The 12 cows in each group were selected to achieve equal parity. The two groups were examined at 2-week intervals over a 12-week period, Cows in group C had a significant increase in claw horn growth over the study period compared to the group R. There was a non-significant difference in wear between cows in the 2 groups at the end of the study, with cows in the group C showing most wear. These findings suggest that there was a compensatory increase in horn production in response to accelerated claw horn wear in group C. This was further supported by the fact that there was only a small but not significant difference in sole thickness between the 2 groups at the end of the study with the cows in group C having slightly thinner soles. Within group comparison of claw measurements recorded at the beginning (week 0-2) and end (week 10 -12) of the trial, cows in both groups showed significant increases in claw length indicating that overall growth exceeded wear in both groups. Results of the study indicate a possible protective effect of a rubber walking surface (versus concrete) against claw horn wear. Cows on concrete showed accelerated growth that did not fully compensate based on a tendency for increased wear and slightly thinner soles

The effect of biotin and zinc supplementation on dairy cow hoof health and milk quality

“…Sole thickness. The average ST measured in this study was similar to that reported earlier (VAN AMSTEL et al, 2016). Sole thickness was only measured on the back claws since it has been shown that the sole horns of the back feet wear more quickly than those of the front feet, and are thus more prone to increased wear and resulting lameness (VAN AMSTEL et al, 2004).…”

Evaluating the association between early-lactation lying behavior and hoof lesion development in lactating Jersey cows

“…We did not observe evidence of a difference in the number of steps of Jersey cows that remained healthy compared with cows that developed HL in our study. Only a few studies have reported that number of steps may be a good predictor of lameness in lactating cows (Chapinal and Tucker, 2012;de Mol et al, 2013;Thorup et al, 2015). Considering that we found no evidence for differences in the number of steps, even though lying duration in the early postpartum period was reduced in cows that developed HL compared with cows that remained healthy, it is possible that cows that developed HL might have stood for longer periods to feed, in response to the demands of higher milk production, compared with cows that remained healthy.…”