15 Aug 2023
Despite best efforts, lameness persists in UK dairy herds. In this article, Owen Atkinson, BVSc, DCHP, PgCert, MRCVS, will explore how vets can motivate farmers to improve foot health and address potential issues in herds.
Owen Atkinson
Job Title
Image: © Clara / Adobe Stock
Lameness in dairy herds remains a persistent challenge for both animal welfare and farm productivity.
Vets play a crucial role in assisting farmers in improving foot health, promoting the farm’s performance, and effectively managing pain in the individual cows.
This article explores the importance of veterinary involvement in addressing foot health, highlights key strategies to motivate farmers for improvement, and emphasises the significance of implementing the Healthy Feet Programme, mobility scoring using the four-point Agriculture and Horticulture Development Board (AHDB) mobility score system, and incorporating the Cow Pain Scale.
Lameness in dairy cattle refers to any abnormality that affects an animal’s gait, leading to reduced mobility.
Fundamentally, pain and discomfort are at the root of almost all gait alterations – so it is a welfare problem, as well as one that has economic implications for dairy farmers, including reduced milk yield, increased culling rates and poorer fertility. Foot health is influenced by multiple factors, including genetics, nutrition, housing, stockpersonship and management practices. No two farms or situations are the same. So, improving foot health – or working out where the most effective interventions will be – requires knowledge, skill and a methodical approach.
The Healthy Feet Programme (HFP) has been designed with this in mind. Through the HFP, mobility mentors (who are largely vets) have a framework that encompasses a tailored approach to the farm. Briefly, this includes exploring the problem with the farmer – their goals, attitudes towards lameness, current understanding of the different lesion types and what they have tried previously – investigating the lesion types, and conducting a detailed risk appraisal for the farm. The four “success factors” for healthy feet are:
Each farm benefits by determining what the most effective actions will be for its unique circumstances, depending on the lesions, the identified risks and the capability to make certain changes. Mobility mentors facilitate the agreement of an action plan, and then help the farm implement it.
Farm vets are uniquely positioned to address foot health issues in dairy herds. That they possess the knowledge and expertise to diagnose, treat and prevent lameness is perhaps a given. Yet, in addition, increasingly farm vets are developing their coaching and leadership skills to coordinate the wider farm team to come together and tackle gnarly issues, such as lameness.
By learning to become a mobility mentor, vets can assess the overall foot health situation, identify lameness risk factors and provide tailored advice to farmers. The following are some specific ways vets can play an active role in managing lameness.
Vets who have trained to become mobility mentors have the necessary knowledge and experience to accurately diagnose the underlying causes of lameness. A key skill to learn is the appraisal of trimming and lesion management. Mobility mentors are supported in their own development to become more confident in conducting these important physical examinations of feet.
Veterinary expertise is also valuable in using data. Using diagnostic tools and analysing herd health data is an increasingly required role for lameness work. While, historically, it has perhaps been less so than for mastitis or fertility interventions, data collection and data analysis is becoming ever-more possible in the field of foot health to identify specific risk factors and design targeted interventions.
Vets can provide evidence-based treatment protocols to alleviate pain and discomfort associated with lameness, and to improve chances of an effective cure.
The role of pain relief medications, in particular NSAIDs, is becoming more widely understood.
This is not only about pain relief – itself an important objective – but also about improving clinical outcomes.
A good review of this subject is provided by Wilson and Bell (2022). Beyond pain relief, implementing other appropriate hoof care techniques, such as therapeutic blocking, foot surgery under regional anaesthesia, and postoperative care can all be tailored to individual animals. Early and effective intervention can expedite the recovery process and minimise further complications (see EDPET).
The key to reducing lameness prevalence is to help farmers develop comprehensive preventive strategies to reduce the occurrence of lesions in the first place.
This is where the on-farm assessments associated with the HFP are valuable to identify potential risk factors, such as inadequate housing conditions, low body condition scores or infectious risks associated with digital dermatitis and foul.
They can then provide guidance on implementing appropriate management practices, including foot bathing, flooring improvements and stress-free cattle handling to improve cow flow.
Ongoing monitoring and evaluation of lameness management efforts is a crucial role. In many regards, a continual and regular programme of monitoring underpins the success of the HFP. In the first instance, this is by implementing regular mobility scoring using the established four-point AHDB mobility score system by a Register of Mobility Scorers (RoMS) accredited scorer (www.RoMS.org.uk), or by a reliable technological solution. In addition, careful recording of lesions, encountered both during routine trimming and also when treating lame cows, should be done. By monitoring the prevalence and severity of lameness over time, as well as the predominant lesions occurring, vets can track progress, identify emerging issues, and adjust management strategies accordingly.
Increasingly, farm vets are providing farmers with valuable education and training on various aspects of their work. In the sphere of lameness prevention and management, much can be done, including training in routine trimming, first-aid treatments, recognising early lameness (mobility scoring) and recognising which cows require pain relief using the Cow Pain Scale (Gleerup, 2017).
Training empowers farmers to recognise the early signs of lameness, implement the appropriate treatment and take prompt action when wider foot health issues arise.
Using the Cow Pain Scale helps people recognise a series of signals and behaviours of cows experiencing pain, making pain assessment less subjective. This allows farmers to use pain relief with greater awareness and confidence.
Everything previously mentioned is all well and good. Often, the more pressing challenge for the vet, however, is motivating farmers to make the necessary changes.
Here is something the mobility mentor training spends a great deal of time preparing vets for. Vets can be particularly effective motivating change around certain strands.
By understanding the level of lameness and gaining a greater awareness of the consequences – including pain experienced by affected animals – farmers can be motivated to take action to improve foot health. The preliminary HFP interview, and then mobility scoring done collaboratively with the farm – and in conjunction with using a cost calculator – can be especially valuable tools.
Facilitating the farm team to develop its own customised action plan for lameness management means that the team can take greater ownership of both the challenges and the solutions.
Collaboration with trusted trimmers and others, such as the farm’s nutritional advisor, can help any plan succeed. Mobility mentors who encourage networking between other dairy farmers in similar situations, encouraging them to share experiences, challenges, and success stories related to foot health, are particularly effective.
By fostering a sense of empathy and support, farmers can be motivated to prioritise foot health within their herds and businesses.
The AHDB mobility score system again comes into its own here: it objectively evaluates the lameness prevalence, and allows farmers to see how their herds compare with others.
Farmers are better able to track progress and make data-driven decisions.
It is rare that change interventions are entirely successful from the outset — in whatever business setting you look at. Mobility mentors are encouraged to “stay the journey” with their farms by regularly reviewing progress and the implementation of the action plan.
Over time, the plan can be changed, taking into account the next challenges, and building on previous successes.
Vets play a vital role in helping dairy farmers reduce lameness, alleviate pain and improve mobility in their herds.
By educating farmers about the pain associated with lameness, fostering collaboration, implementing the four-point AHDB mobility score system and delivering the Healthy Feet Programme, and providing training, vets can motivate farmers to prioritise foot health in their management practices.
