Effect of Season on Claw Disorders (Including Thin Soles) in a Large Dairy in the Southeastern Region of the USA

Weather conditions during the summer months are typically hot and humid in the southeastern United States. This results in varying degrees of heat stress that significantly reduces milk yield and reproductive performance and has detrimental effects on animal health. Confinement housing (free-stall barns) offers shade to protect animals against the effects of solar radiation, and in most cases sprinkling, misting or high pressure fogging systems to increase the evaporative cooling rates of cows and barn environments. The end result is increased milk yield, and improved cow comfort, reproductive performance and animal health ...