1 Stepping Out : Recent Advances in Detecting Lameness in Dairy Cattle

Lameness in dairy cows impacts negatively on herd welfare and productivity. It is thought to be closely associated with avoidance of pain caused by limb lesions and, particularly in dairy cattle, by hoof lesions (Dyer et al., 2007). Freedom from pain is one of the Five Freedoms of animal welfare (FAWC, 1997), so lameness is a sign of poor welfare. Besides this, there are treatment costs (Almeida et al., 2008) and reduced milk yields (Warnick et al., 2001). Consequently, prevention and treatment is a feature of many welfare and management quality assurance plans (Webster et al., 2004). However, as prey animals, dairy cows tend to mask their pain, making it difficult to detect foot lesions with no overt lameness (O’Callaghan et al., 2003).