Limiting Cattle Lameness Through Proper Hoof Care
Monday, April 5th, 2010
During the month of December Cargill Dairy Exchange and Zinpro delivered a program in Maine designed to focus on the aspects of hoof care that influence the productivity and subsequent profitability of our dairy businesses today. More than 20 people attended including many professional hoof trimmers responsible for the maintenance and upkeep of our dairies here in Maine.
It is apparent that during tough economic times we tend to limit out of pocket costs particularly in regards to feed and labor. Part of the labor equation includes minimizing or eliminating hoof trimming costs. However, this decision of cost control can have huge implications on short term and long term profitability. For instance, studies have shown cows which are lame during the first 70 days in milk have an average days open of 149 while cows not lame average around 120 days open. Also, lame cows during early lactation have a 24% increase in not becoming pregnant.
During the program participants learned to objectively determine the lameness score of cows in order to determine not only which cows needed immediate trimming but also to calculate the economic impact of lameness.. Locomotion score focused on how the cow distributed her body weight from foot to foot and was based on a 1 to 5 scale. Locomotion scores were assigned as follows: 1 = normal; 2 = slightly abnormal gait; 3 = lame, clearly favoring at least one leg; 4 = severely lame; and 5 = extremely lame, not bearing any weight on a leg. Using this system on one farm during the week and plugging the results into the CARGILL Dairy Exchange Locomotion Economic Calculator it was determined that there was a potential of 5 lbs. of milk/cow/day to be gained through proper hoof care and trimming. For this particular farm there was the potential of an additional $49,000 of gross revenue annually being left on the table.
In order to maximize the potential of your cows to produce milk it is imperative to have a rigorous hoof trimming schedule in order to ensure that cows have good footing and body weight distribution. Most farms try to keep on a regimen that will allow the cow to be trimmed on average 2 times per year. For instance, a possible trimming schedule could include trimming all dry cows AND springing heifers at dry off or 4 to 6 weeks before calving. Another maintenance trim can occur between 120 to 150 days in milk. Some cows may need to be maintenance trimmed again after 250 days depending on hoof wear versus hoof growth. Recall, in most cases 30% to 40% of your herd will have a hoof “issue” beyond just maintenance. These girls will require on average another 2 visits to the trim table.
With this in mind we can calculate the number of average trimmings necessary a year and per month. For instance, a 200 cow dairy would need 520 trims in the year [400 maintenance trims + 120 (60 problem cows 2 more times each)]. 520 trims would mean an average of about 45 per month. This is without taking into consideration the needs of the heifer herd.
Can you legitimately accomplish this technical procedure properly on your own? The foundation to a comprehensive hoof health program IS the proper trimming of the claw. This was discussed and demonstrated at the program and focuses on four key steps to the procedure. These include for Holsteins preserving a toe length of a minimum of 3 inches, assuring a sole thickness of no less then ¼ of an inch, leaving a heel depth of 1.5 inches and maintaining a flat evenly distributed weight bearing surface between the inner and outer claws. When personally trimming or utilizing a professional foot trimmer it is imperative that these parameters are being met. And remember; don’t sacrifice the long term success of your business by ignoring the importance of hoof health. Let us not become “penny wise but pound foolish”!
