«The Claw coin» - a national program to improve claw health in dairy cows

Introduction 
Lameness is one of the main concerns regarding animal welfare in dairy herds worldwide. The main cause for lameness is impaired claw health. However, by regular claw trimming/care the claw health can be improved and, hence, the prevalence of lameness be reduced [1]. Lameness and claw disorders are recognized by the Swedish government as an animal welfare problem and as part of a national program to improve animal welfare in Sweden a reimbursement, called the Claw coin, was introduced in 2016. This report presents the results so far concerning use and improvements in claw health. 

Materials and Methods
In order to obtain the welfare reimbursement, the farmers need to apply to the Swedish Board of Agriculture. The conditions to receive the Claw coin is that each dairy cow, that the reimbursement is applied for, should be trimmed twice yearly by a certified claw trimmer with at least 3 months interval, that all lesions found at trimming should be treated properly and that a claw health plan should be written [2]. In the plan, the farmer writes down the trimming strategy i.e. dates or schedule for farm visits. Claw health statistics shall be calculated and if exceeding the national average for the lameness causing claw disorders an action plan should be made. In the action plan different kind of interventions shall be listed in order to improve the situation. In Sweden we have about 100 certified claw trimmers and about 70% of the trimmers send the claw health records to the national database at Växa Sweden. From this database data are summarized every year to monitor the claw health status nationally and regional using descriptive statistics. In total, data from approximately 460 000 trimmings of approximately 265 000 cows is summarized and described. 

Results
In total, approximately 2 200 farmers have applied for the subsidiary for approximately 212 000 dairy cows each year since the introduction of the reimbursement. Hence, two out of three dairy cows in Sweden are now receiving the Claw coin. Moreover, about 60 percent of the dairy cows are trimmed at least twice per year, an increase of almost 30 percent since the introduction of the program. The national statistics shows a decrease in the proportion of trimmings with a recorded claw disorder starting in 2016 (Figure 1). Looking at the specific disorders, a reduction in the prevalence of heel horn erosion, sole haemorrhage and soleulcer can also be seen. 

Conclusions
A welfare reimbursement on national level can improve claw health of dairy cows according to our figures. However, a follow up of quality of claw health records should be done to assure the relevance of the figures