While some farmers are focusing on securing a third cut of silage and getting fertiliser out, lameness control needs to come to the forefront at this time of the year.
Many farmers will have their second cut silage secured and a lot of the pressure will be somewhat eased off by now, so lameness control should be kept in mind.
Lameness control may have been neglected this year, as factors such as poor grass growth rates, high costs and poor milk price have taken centre stage.
The autumn months can often highlight all of the hoof and feet issues in your herd thanks to this potential neglect from other tasks taking over.
On top of that, cows have spent the last number of months working hard during their peak milk production months while walking long distances to and from the milking parlour.
Furthermore, the breeding season has come to a wrap and with silage cuts taking your attention after the breeding season, cows that went under pressure from the breeding season may have gone unnoticed.
Lameness can be a serious issue at this time of the year thanks to an accumulation of neglect, hard-working cows, and the aftermath of the breeding season.
Lameness
When you include all of the associated costs and the potential loss in production in a dairy cow, the cost of lameness in a dairy cow could cost up to €300 per case.
Cows that have had problems in the spring were 10 times more likely to re-appear as lame in the autumn, according to a Teagasc study.
The main causes of lameness for a grazing herd are mechanical, e.g., bruising, white line disease, ulcers, as opposed to infectious diseases like mortellaro and foul in the foot.
Controlling lameness is therefore primarily down to managing surfaces and cow flow around milking times and now is the time to address these issues before we move into the risk time of the year.
The first thing to do, is to identify the problem areas on your farm, such as: standing water; poorly drained corners; broken surfaces; shading by overgrown trees, and so on.
The next thing to look at is road surfaces, as small pebbles and grit are the main cause of white line disease. Surfaces should be smooth, with well compacted material.
The step from the roadway to the concrete can often be area of concern, as pebbles can get dragged up to the hard surface.
Laying down about eight to 10m of astro-turf has worked for many farmers in the transition to concrete.
Ensuring that water can get away on the laneways is essential, as well as ensuring good cow flow in and out of the parlour.
Regular foot bathing and hoof trimming should continue on the farm until those repeat offenders are completely sorted.
If they continue to give problems, culling these cows from the herd has to be considered.
Locomotion scoring
It is also a good time to identify cows within the herd that are showing signs of lameness, and using locomotion scoring is the probably the best way to do this.
Locomotion scoring is a five-point system based on both gait and posture:
- Normal: The cow is not lame; the back is flat;
- Mildly lame: The back is slightly arched when walking;
- Moderately lame: The back is arched when both standing and walking. The cow walks with short strides in one or more legs;
- Lame: The lame cow can still bear some weight on the affected foot;
- Severely lame: The back is arched; the cow refuses to bear weight on the affected foot and remains recumbent.
A cow’s hind foot should land in the same place as her front foot; failure to do this may be an indication of a lameness issue.
Identifying cows early will give them the best possible chance of recovery, as cows that are left too long to be treated can repeatedly cause problems down the line no matter how much work you do with them.
