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“In the past years, we haven’t been successful in structurally lowering the amount of claw problems. At the average dairy farm, some 20-30% of all cows suffer from a serious claw problem, which is the same percentage as 20 years ago. This data shows that we haven’t made much progress in terms of claw health.”
Claw problems have a major influence on the life expectancy of the dairy herd. I expect that if we manage to eradicate claw problems, the average company will gain one or two additional lactations. In terms of lifespan, claw health is a decisive factor. We often observe that milk cows leave the farm because they don’t gestate, while the root cause is a claw problem. These claw problems often push cows into a negative energy balance, which means they lose too much weight during the transition period, and don’t show heat either. There is a great opportunity for the dairy farming industry to extend the lifespan of cows by solving claw problems in which we produce milk from healthy cows.
Digital dermatitis is a superficial and painful skin disease at the bottom of the claws. We often call digital dermatitis a claw problem, but it is in fact a skin condition caused by an anaerobic bacterium, which thrives in low-oxygen environments. Consequently, dried manure on claws is a perfect place for these bacteria to settle and propagate.
The bacteria causing this disease are found in infected carrier cows. Often, when new cows are introduced into the herd and their immune system is compromised in any way, they are more susceptible to digital dermatitis. This spreads the disease, as infected cows walk over the same floor slats as others, which enables cross-contamination. We also observe this in practical environments: if cows spend more time outside, the number of digital dermatitis cases drop significantly.
Claw infections are often cases of digital dermatitis. Dairy farms with greater numbers of this infection, often also have more cases of foot rot and interdigital phlegmon. Company hygiene is critical in preventing and containing these diseases, or as a colleague from the U.S. once told me, “preventing claw infections is all about hygiene, hygiene and hygiene.” The cleanliness of the claws and floor slats is the starting principle for improvement. It’s also important that floor slats remain dry and that cows maintain a strong immune system. “We haven’t made much progress in the past 20 years, even though I expect that eradicating claw problems in the dairy herd will let the average company gain one or two additional lactations”.
Formalin disinfects claw skin, slightly hardens claw horn and is effective in contaminated areas to kill bacteria that cause claw infections.
Research has shown that strategic trimming attains much better results than trimming the entire herd twice a year. The advice for strategic hoof trimming is to do it when cows are dried off and once they have lactated for 90 days. We also give this advice to hoof trimmers, as we observe that most claw problems occur within the first two months after calving. If you make sure that cows benefit from hoofs in prime condition at that time, the chances of problems decrease significantly.
One important prerequisite is how the dairy farm is structured. It must be easy to carry out the work, in which a simple process for separating cows is important. Furthermore, a dairy farmer needs a proper hoof trimming box, approaching the type of equipment used by professional trimmers. If your foundation supports you, work becomes much easier and you won’t be tempted to postpone it. Another important thing for dairy farmers is to talk to their hoof trimmers and discuss whether the farmer is doing it right, as it’s a process that is prone to error.
Dairy farmers and/or hoof trimmers can register claw problems in Digiklauw or other registration programmes based on what they observe. This way of collecting data provides a great opportunity to monitor the claw health within your dairy herd and see how it develops. It’s also possible to have samples taken from the milk tank on a quarterly basis. This doesn’t require any additional action, and the results enable you to monitor whether your herd has sufficient minerals such as biotin, zinc and manganese, which are key elements for maintaining horn quality. If these numbers are within parameters, the chances of claw horn problems drop significantly. Milk tank samples can also be used to measure the presence of digital dermatitis within your herd. If this test returns a high number, you know there’s a significant infection pressure in your herd and many individual cows will suffer from this disease.
The way you configure your cubicles is important too. It is important that cows lie down as soon as they enter the cubicles. Something we keep a close eye on while inspecting stables, is the percentage of cows standing up in these cubicles versus the amount of cows that lay down. The standard we maintain is that 85% of cows must be lying down and ruminating.
Menno Holzhauer is a cattle veterinarian and European expert in cattle health at Royal GD. He has specialised in claw health for over 20 years and his work primarily consists of research, monitoring claw health and advising veterinarians and cattle farmers.
© 2021 HyCare is an initiative of The Schippers Group
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