Study on Distribution of Dairy Cattle Hoof Lesions and its Relation to Locomotion Scoring

Objectives- To evaluate the most important bovine digital lesions in shahrekord area and its correlation with locomotion scoring. Study Design- Cross- Sectional descriptive study. Animals- five hundred and eighteen cows inspected in two seasons. Methods- Three dairy farms on three scales (1: Large, approximately 900 milking cows, 2: Medium, approximately 100 milking cows, and 3: Small, approximately 20 milking cows) were watched for lameness in 2005-2006. Locomotion scoring by Sprecher method (1-5 point scale) has been done for detection of lameness. Digital lesions in according to the area have been recorded. Sole ulcer, double sole and digital dermatitis were watched during study. Results were compared in different scores, parities, and days in milk (DIM). Results- Forty eight percent of the inspected hooves affected with different digital lesions in autumn that was lower than spring (58.8%). No statistical difference between prevalence of each disease were recorded between autumn and spring (P>0.05). Cows in score 1-5 were as 43.6, 46.9, 52.9, 61.8 and 77.7 % respectively, the number of affected digits (AD) significantly increased with the scores. More digital lesions were recorded in cows with higher scores. Digital Dermatitis (DD), sole ulcer (SU) and double sole (DS) show a significant difference between different scores as the highest distribution recorded in score 3. By increasing the locomotion scores (LS) the percent of the lesions like DD and DS return to its original or lower than original level, but in SU the percent of the disease is still higher than percent of the animals in score 1 (P<0.05) that show the better ability of the scoring system in predicting SU. DD and DS was reduced significantly by increasing the parity, but SU significantly were increased by increasing the parity (P<0.05). No significant effect of days in milk has been detected on the prevalence of lesions under    study, but descriptively most lesion was recorded  in 31-60 days after parturition. Although percent of lesions decreased  by parity but this decrease was not significant. Conclusions and Clinical Relevance- Digital dermatitis is the most prevalent lesion of the hooves in Shahrekord area. Lameness scoring is a reasonable tool in investigation of the lameness that is specially capable of detecting heel horn erosions like sole ulcer.