Risk Factors and Incidence of Dairy Lameness in Large Herds of the South Island of New Zealand

Dairying in the South Island (SI) of New Zealand has undergone rapid growth and intensification in the last 10 years, rising from 10% to 30% of national milk production. The typical SI system remains pasture based, but commonly has larger herds (>600), higher individual milk yield, and a characteristic pasture management that all differ from traditional NZ dairy systems. Lameness is a dominant health and welfare concern, but there was no existing research on the SI industry. This Ministry of Agriculture and Dairy NZ co-funded research (2005-2007) was the first work to establish the incidence and profile of lameness in SI herds, and the primary risk factors associated with typical SI systems.
All lame cases treated on 60 representative SI farms (c.40 000 cows) from five regions in 2005-07 were recorded. All cases had affected claw, diagnosis, and treatment recorded in a diary. Monthly pasture samples and detailed ancillary information on infrastructure, nutritional and grazing management, production, reproduction and lameness reduction strategies was obtained.
The mean lameness incidence recorded in each region varied from 20 to 45%, and white line lesions ...