The progression of lameness: Temporal connection between first signs of painful hoof disease and apparent lameness

Objectives

The aim of this study was to investigate at what point in time during the development of a hoof disease a resulting lameness would become visible for the human observer.

Materials and methods

For this purpose, a fortnightly manually observed locomotion score (fLMS) was recorded during one year for 638 milking Simmental cows as a reference for hoof health. These cows lived on 5 farms (2 with an automatic milking system, 3 with a milking parlour) with 162, 117, 180, 92, 87 animals respectively. Additionally, at the exit of every milking parlor or milking robot cameras were installed to observe locomotion score on a daily basis (dLMS) for focus animals. The used scoring system by Grimm and Lorenzini consists out of 3 levels: 1 = sound, 2 = unsound, 3 = lame. Classification is applied in two steps: Firstly, the overall movement of the animal is observed: if the animal presents with asymmetrical gait it is considered “lame” (3). In a second step, animals with symmetrical gait are observed for signs of back arch, compensatory posture while standing and head bob. If any one of the traits is present, the cow is considered “unsound” (2), otherwise “sound” (1). [...]