Associations of sole ulcer at claw trimming with reproductive performance, udder health, milk yield, and culling in Swedish dairy cattle.

The association between sole ulcer found at routine claw trimming 2-6 months after calving and reproductive, health and productive traits in the same lactation, was investigated in an observational study of 2368 dairy cows in 102 Swedish herds. The data were analysed by mixed multivariable linear-, logistic- and Poisson-regression modelling at the cow level, accounting for clustering within herd. Associations were found between sole ulcer and first-service conception risk in the first study year (OR 0.59), calving interval (2% longer), treatment for anoestrus (OR 1.61), and 305-day milk yield (479 kg ECM higher). No associations could be shown between sole ulcer and first-service conception risk in the second study year, the number of services per conception, clinical mastitis, high milk somatic-cell counts or culling.

Prevalence and interrelationships of hoof lesions and lameness in Swedish dairy cows.

The prevalence of hoof lesions and lameness in 4899 heifers and cows was determined at claw trimming one time in a cross-sectional study on 101 Swedish dairy farms, 1996-1998. The percentage of affected animals was 41% for heel-horn erosion, 30% for sole haemorrhages, 27% for erosive dermatitis, 21% for abnormal claw shape, 14% for white-line haemorrhages, 8.8% for white-line fissures, 8.6% for sole ulcers, 3.3% for double soles, 2.3% for verrucose dermatitis, and 1.8% for interdigital hyperplasia (IH). Seventy-two percent of all animals had at least one hoof lesion. The prevalence of lameness was 5.1%; most hoof lesions did not cause lameness. Differences between herds were substantial; the herd-specific, animal-level prevalence of lesions ranged from 25 to 98% and of lameness from 0 to 33%. Sole haemorrhages were found in all herds. The proportion of variance at the between-herd level was particularly high for heel-horn erosion (62%) and abnormal claw shape (54%). Strong correlations between lesions were found within hooves (and animals), e.g. for heel-horn erosion and dermatitis (Spearman's rank correlation, r(s)=0.36 and 0.37, respectively) and for sole and white-line haemorrhages (r(s)=0.25 and 0.28). Most hoof lesions affected hind and front hooves bilaterally, whereas the correlation between hind and front hooves generally was lower. Herds that ranked high for prevalence of sole ulcer also ranked high for sole haemorrhages and for abnormal claw shape and herds that ranked high for dermatitis also ranked high for heel-horn erosion, verrucose dermatitis and IH. Abnormal claw shape was strongly associated with sole ulcer (r(s)=0.41 at cow level)-suggesting the importance of maintaining a correct claw shape for the prevention of hoof-horn lesions.

The effect of claw trimming on the hoof health of Swedish dairy cattle.

A 2-year experiment on the effect of claw trimming on hoof health was performed in 77 Swedish dairy herds (3444 dairy cattle) selected on herd size, breed composition and membership in the official milk-recording scheme. In the autumn, cows within each herd were blocked according to breed, parity and stage of lactation and allocated to two treatments: autumn trimming (AT) or no autumn trimming (NAT). Outcome variables were claw measurements and prevalence of hoof lesions and lameness (measured at spring trimming) and the need for hoof treatments between scheduled trimmings. At spring trimming, NAT cows had longer and shallower claws than AT cows. The average net growth of the toe wall was greater for AT than for NAT cattle, with a marked variation between housing systems. Most hoof lesions present at AT had disappeared at the subsequent spring trimming. Controlled for clustering by herd-within-year and for the effects of individual-and herd-level covariates, AT cattle at spring trimmings had significantly lower odds of lameness (OR=0.66) and of haemorrhages of the sole or white-line (OR=0.86), sole ulcer (OR=0.59) and white-line fissure or double sole (OR=0.71)-but not of moderate-to-severe heel-horn erosion or dermatitis (OR=0.96). Acute hoof treatments between claw trimmings were more common in the NAT group (OR=2.02).

Topical treatment of digital dermatitis associated with severe heel-horn erosion in a Swedish dairy herd.

Two experiments were run in a commercial dairy herd to test the efficacy of topical treatments of digital dermatitis associated with severe heel-horn erosion. In Experiment I, topical treatments with solutions of either glutaraldehyde or oxytetracycline were compared with foot trimming and cleansing alone. After trimming of all feet, one front and one rear foot in each cow were treated with either glutaraldehyde or oxytetracycline (regardless of dermatitis status), while the other feet were used as controls and only trimmed. Two hundred foot records were obtained from 34 Swedish Red and White and 16 Swedish Holstein cows. The proportions (p) of feet cured from digital dermatitis were compared between each group of medically treated feet and the control feet, assuming the feet to be independent observations with respect to curing. Oxytetracycline was significantly more effective than hoof trimming alone (p=0.87 and 0.34, respectively; P<0.001) and than glutaraldehyde (p=0.41; P=0.004). Treatment with glutaraldehyde was no more effective than hoof trimming alone. In Experiment II, a specially designed footbath with two longitudinal compartments was used to study the effectiveness of a solution of acidic ionised copper in preventing or curing digital dermatitis. The footbath--using water in one compartment--was constructed to make within-cow comparisons of treatment efficacy possible. The hoof health of 44 dairy cows (also included in Experiment I) were studied when the animals first were turned out to pasture and at the end of the grazing season (approximately 6 months later). During the grazing season, the cows were walked through the footbath twice daily after milking for a total of 47 days, divided into five separate periods ranging in length from 3 to 16 days. As judged by a two-sample comparison of proportions, a higher proportion of the cows' hind feet that were affected by dermatitis were cured by the copper solution (20/24) than by water alone (12/23). The copper solution had no significant preventive effect on healthy feet.