Evaluation of trimming – Compliance to trimming method

Objectives

Most dairy cows receive claw trimming during their productive life. The purpose of preventive claw trimming is to maintain a normal shape and function of the claws and thereby prevent lesions especially claw horn disruption lesions (CHDL) and associated lameness. Over the years several studies have shown positive effect of claw trimming (Manske et al., 2002, Gomez et al., 2013, Stoddard, 2018). Millions of cows are trimmed every day and the cows must take many steps on the outcome of these trimmings. Therefore we need to evaluate the standard of claw trimming to continuously improve claw health. The purpose of this study is to evaluate the result of claw trimming of hind legs.

Materials and methods

Trimming technique was evaluated on hind legs of 205 cows (29-37 per trimmer) in 6 different herds with 6 different experienced trimmers, trimming according to the White Line Atlas method (White and Daniel, 2017). The evaluations of the trimming were done by 2 trained veterinary master students. Claws with corkscrew, scissor, asymmetry, or other abnormalities were excluded. Two trimmers worked alone, two teams worked exclusively on either the left and right side and in two teams one trimmer trimmed both hind legs. [...]