Lameness in Cattle: Causes and Consequences

Lameness is one of the most important health problems in dairy cattle. Involvement by veterinarians varies from diagnosis and treatment of lameness conditions to consultation with dairy owners and managers on procedures for treatment, control and prevention. In large herds, the sheer number of lame cows is beyond what most veterinarians can cope with on a daily basis. Therefore, throughout much of North America foot care and claw trimming tasks are performed by outside trimmers or farm employees. Regardless of who performs these tasks, the key to achieving a successful outcome from treatment is prompt examination and therapy of lameness conditions. In addition to reducing losses to lameness, early recognition and treatment accomplishes the objectives of limiting animal suffering and preventing lameness disorders from continued progress toward more serious forms of disease that may require surgical correction and an extended period of recovery. Over 90% of lameness in dairy cattle involves the foot, and of that, more than 90% involves the rear feet, with the majority of disorders affecting the outside claw. The most common causes of lameness are ulcers and white line disease. This indicates that more than just nutrition and feeding management errors are responsible for lameness disorders. Logically, if all lameness were simply a consequence of rumen acidosis and laminitis, then risk and incidence of disease should be similar for all claws of each foot. Indeed, the unique pattern of lameness in cattle suggests that it is more complex. Beyond ration adjustments and correction of feeding management errors, short and long term improvement of foot health generally requires attention to housing and cow comfort, and other management factors. The infectious claw diseases: digital dermatitis (DD) and interdigital dermatitis (ID) are common maladies in today’s modern dairy operations. Treatment and control options exist, but none are completely satisfactory or effective, and recurrence rates are generally high (around 50% or more). Foot rot is generally less common and often confused with other forms of deep digital sepsis. This confusion sometimes leads to treatment delays allowing the infection to ascend (or extend) into adjacent tissues of the foot including the distal interphalangeal joint and retro-articular space. This usually reduces options for treatment to surgery, culling, or in the worst case scenario, euthanasia. The following is a brief review of some of these conditions with specific comments on how to manage them.