Have you got CLOWNs in your herd?
CLOWNs are cows with Claws Overgrown, but Walking Normally.Overgrown claws are an early indicator for lameness. Uneven weight bearing will shift the balance to one of the claws and predispose to lameness. When it starts raining, these cows are the first to get lame.
The solution to prevent this lameness occurring is corrective hoof trimming. Hoof trimming restores the weight bearing surface and existing lesions are removed, so the feet can handle increasing weight from a growing calf. Basically, you are hitting the reset button and it’s a bit like turning your older cows’ feet into heifer feet!
Did you know?
- Rain itself does not cause lameness, it only exacerbates it
- Overgrown claws do not recover during the dry off period
- The average cost per lame cow is $351 (based on 200 cow herd with 7% lameness, no antibiotic treatment and no culling for lameness)
- More than half of lameness is attributable to previous lameness event
Date Added: Sunday, 1st April 2018
Back...