The frequency of tail damage amongst cows from a sample of New Zealand dairy farms participating in an animal welfare programme

Moono, Peter; Fruean, SN; Hampson, David J.; Bryan, Mark

doi:10.1080/00480169.2022.2069174

Cited by 4 publications

(5 citation statements)

References 24 publications

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“…In dairy cows, a number of different tail lesions occur with varying frequency, including, e.g. dermatophilosis, rat-tail syndrome, tail hood, tail thread, tail fractures/dislocations, tail-tip necrosis and band-shaped lesions localized to the skin and underlying structures [1][2][3][4][5][6][7][8][9][10][11][12]. The band-shaped tail lesions are a relatively undescribed phenomenon in dairy cows.…”

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Prevalence and characterization of band-shaped tail lesions in Danish Holstein dairy cows

Jensen

2024

Preprint

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Band-shaped tail lesions in Danish Holstein dairy cows are present either as wounds or in the form of connective tissue formations. Both types are characterized by a median localization 7 cm from the tip of the tail, are always occurring on the dorsal side of the tail, which they can envelop completely or to varying degrees, and are often present as single lesions (93%). The prevalence of band-shaped tail lesions was observed to be 25% among 2099 cows examined in 16 Danish dairy herds with a variation from 18–40% between herds. In the herds the wound lesions and the connective tissue formations accounted for 22% and 78% of all band-shaped tail lesions, respectively. Among 458 cows examined at an abattoir the prevalence of band-shaped tail lesions was 23%, i.e. similar to the prevalence within the herds. At the abattoir the share of band-shaped wound lesions was 67% and the band-shaped connective tissue formation 33%. Associations between the occurrence of band-shaped tail lesions and parity and lack of the tail tip were observed.

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Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Prevalence and characterization of band-shaped tail lesions in Danish Holstein dairy cows

Jensen

2024

Preprint

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“…In dairy cows, tail lesions such as dermatophilosis, rat-tail syndrome, tail hood, tail thread, tail fractures/dislocations, tail-tip necrosis and band-shaped tail (BST) lesions localised to the skin and underlying structures occur with varying frequencies [1][2][3][4][5][6][7][8][9][10][11][12]. The BST lesions are a relatively undescribed phenomenon in dairy cows.…”

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Prevalence and characterisation of band-shaped tail lesions in Holstein cows

Volhøj,

Nielsen,

Schjermer

et al. 2024

Acta Vet Scand

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The aim of the study was to characterise and determine the prevalence of band-shaped tail lesions in Holstein cows. Lesions were present either as wounds or by epithelised granulation/connective tissue formations. Both types were characterised by a median localisation 7 cm from the tip of the tail, and they occurred on the dorsal aspect of the tail. From here they encircled the tail either completely or in varying degrees, and they were often present as isolated lesions (93%). The prevalence of band-shaped tail lesions was found to be 25% among 2099 cows examined in 16 Danish Holstein herds with a variation from 18 to 40% between herds. In the herds, the wound lesions and the connective tissue formations accounted for 22% and 78% of all band-shaped tail lesions, respectively. Among 458 Holstein cows examined at an abattoir the prevalence of band-shaped tail lesions was 23%, i.e. similar to the prevalence within the herds. At the abattoir the share of band-shaped wound lesions was 67% and the band-shaped connective tissue formation 33%. Associations between the occurrence of band-shaped tail lesions and parity and lack of the tail tip were observed.

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“…Of these, 90.2 % (±0.8) had one or more lesions. Regarding the literature on lesions of the tail, fractures and docked tails are the most commonly found in dairy cows so far (Moono et al, 2022;Zurbrigg et al, 2005;Olsen et al, 2023). In the PraeRi study (Hoedemaker, 2022), a large German survey on cattle welfare, apparent fractures defined as axis deviations and tissue enlargements were recorded in German dairy cows, with reported prevalences of between 4.5 % and 15.7 % (n = 765).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…In the PraeRi study (Hoedemaker, 2022), a large German survey on cattle welfare, apparent fractures defined as axis deviations and tissue enlargements were recorded in German dairy cows, with reported prevalences of between 4.5 % and 15.7 % (n = 765). Moono et al (2022) published the first quantitative study of the frequency of tail dam-age within New Zealand dairy farms. They surveyed prevalences of fractures of 2.1 %-13.2 % in different regions of New Zealand.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…However, as tail docking is associated with pain and suffering for the animal, regular trimming of the switch is seen as an alternative (Stull et al, 2002). This attention to the tail might be the reason why there is growing evidence indicating a high prevalence of tail lesions in dairy cows globally (Moorman et al, 2018;Crossley et al, 2022;Moono et al, 2022). In principle, there is a moral obligation to minimize pain in farm animals.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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A pilot study: tail tip lesions in dairy cows – an unnoticed animal welfare issue?

Kremer-Rücker,

Abel,

Lorenz

et al. 2024

Arch. Anim. Breed.

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Abstract. The welfare of dairy cows is becoming increasingly important. While diseases like mastitis and lameness are common ailments, injuries to the tail tip go largely unnoticed. This study aimed to investigate whether tail tip lesions, which are mostly described in beef cattle, also occurred on n=5 dairy farms, along with determining what type and at what frequency. The study consisted of two phases. During the first part of the study, tail tips of 78 dairy cows were examined over a period of 6 months; based on these results, we developed a training card on tail tip lesions in dairy cows, which was used in part two of the study to train further examiners to inspect four more flocks. In total, we collected n=3587 tail records from n=513 Holstein and n= 128 Simmental dairy cows. The overall frequency regarding all types of lesions ranged between 84.0 % (±2.0) and 94.1 % (±1.8) in Holstein herds and between 97.0 % (±2.2) and 99.0 % (±2.2) in Simmental herds. To our knowledge, this is the first investigation of tail tip lesions in German dairy cows. We concluded that tail tip lesions might be a frequent yet unnoticed condition in German dairy cows.

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The frequency of tail damage amongst cows from a sample of New Zealand dairy farms participating in an animal welfare programme

Cited by 4 publications

References 24 publications

Prevalence and characterization of band-shaped tail lesions in Danish Holstein dairy cows

Prevalence and characterization of band-shaped tail lesions in Danish Holstein dairy cows

Prevalence and characterisation of band-shaped tail lesions in Holstein cows

A pilot study: tail tip lesions in dairy cows – an unnoticed animal welfare issue?

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