Longitudinal Study into Effects of Claw Disorders on Locomotion and Behaviour in Dairy Cattle

Lameness in dairy cows is a serious welfare problem. Almost 90% of all lameness cases originate from claw diseases. The concrete floor is considered an important factor in the development of claw disorders and lameness. In a previous study, we demonstrated that soft surface was most beneficial to claw health and prevalence of claw lesions differed significantly between traditional concrete flooring systems (Somers et al., 2003). The number of cows affected by claw lesions was on average 70 to 80 percent.
We performed a longitudinal study to investigate the effect of claw lesions on locomotion and behaviour over time. The effect of type of flooring was also taken into account. This paper highlights the effect of digital dermatitis and heel erosion on lameness as well as lesion development over time in both diseases ...