An ambitious new lameness manifesto, designed to eradicate the malady within the British dairy herd over the course of the next 20 years, has been published by Ruminant Health and Welfare and the Agriculture and Horticulture Development Board (AHDB).
The ‘GB Dairy Cow Lameness Manifesto’, developed by the Dairy Cattle Mobility Steering Group, outlines 21 action points to minimise cases of lameness on British dairy farms, which were all informed by farmers, processors and industry bodies alike.
The action points embody four key principles, which consist of the following:
- The inclusion of all dairy herds, irrespective of size or years in operation;
- Incentivising farmers to achieve good foot health;
- Using farm-specific preventive plans to empower farmers to act;
- Normalising the adoption of all relevant knowledge and combative technology.
More specifically, the manifesto encourages every dairy farm to record individual lameness prevalence and adopt a farm-specific lameness reduction action plan, such as the ‘Healthy Feet’ programme.
It also recommends farmers to harness genetic gain by using sires with lameness-resistant traits and to source stock replacements from herds that can demonstrate their lameness levels on a six-month basis at least.
Dairy Cattle Mobility Steering Group chairman, Nottingham University professor, Martin Green said:
“The actions outlined in this industry-led manifesto should drive at least a 10% relative reduction in lameness prevalence year-on-year on a national scale, until at least 95% of all British dairy herds achieve a lameness rate of less than 5% by 2044.
“This will not only improve cow welfare, but also reduce the industry’s carbon footprint and safeguard the social license of British dairy farming.”
He claimed the industry’s efforts to reduce lameness have plateaued in recent years, with estimates suggesting that the national herd has a lameness prevalence rate of approximately 30%.
“We’re not expecting everyone to adopt every action point in the manifesto, but if we can get lots of parties from different areas of the industry working together and everyone doing their bit, then overall, lameness in the national herd will reduce over the years,” he continued.
“It’s very possible to achieve minimal levels of lameness as we now have the tools to do so, including genetic improvements and a rise in the number of different technologies available to identify lameness.
“Working together is the best chance we have of substantially reducing lameness in our dairy cows and that’s important not only for cow welfare, but also for the profitability and sustainability of our industry,” Green added.
He is urging everyone involved in the dairy sector – from individual farmers to milk processors, vets and other advisers – to pledge their support for the initiative by becoming a signatory of the manifesto, which can be accessed online.
