Department of Population Medicine, Ontario Veterinary College, University of Guelph, Guelph, Ontario, Canada, N1G 2W1.
Dairy Education and Research Centre, University of British Columbia, Agassiz, British Columbia, Canada, V0M 1A0.
J Dairy Sci. 2017 Dec;100(12):9871-9880. doi: 10.3168/jds.2017-13008. Epub 2017 Oct 4.
Lameness is one of the most important welfare and productivity concerns in the dairy industry. Our objectives were to obtain producers' estimates of its prevalence and their perceptions of lameness, and to investigate how producers monitor lameness in tiestall (TS), freestall with milking parlor (FS), and automated milking system (AMS) herds. Forty focal cows per farm in 237 Canadian dairy herds were scored for lameness by trained researchers. On the same day, the producers completed a questionnaire. Mean herd-level prevalence of lameness estimated by producers was 9.0% (±0.9%; ±SE), whereas the researchers observed a mean prevalence of 22.2% (±0.9%). Correlation between producer- and researcher-estimated lameness prevalence was low (r = 0.19) and mean researcher prevalence was 1.6, 1.8, and 4.1 times higher in AMS, FS, and TS farms, respectively. A total of 48% of producers thought lameness was a moderate or major problem in their herds (TS = 34%; AMS =53%; FS = 59%). One third of producers considered lameness the highest ranked health problem they were trying to control, whereas two-thirds of producers (TS = 43%; AMS = 63%; FS = 71%) stated that they had made management changes to deal with lameness in the past 2 yr. Almost all producers (98%) stated they routinely check cows to identify new cases of lameness; however, 40% of producers did not keep records of lameness (AMS = 24%; FS = 23%; TS = 60%). A majority (69%) of producers treated lame cows themselves immediately after detection, whereas 13% relied on hoof-trimmer or veterinarians to plan treatment. Producers are aware of lameness as an issue in dairy herds and almost all monitor lameness as part of their daily routine. However, producers underestimate lameness prevalence, which highlights that lameness detection continues to be difficult in in all housing systems, especially in TS herds. Training to improve detection, record keeping, identification of farm-specific risk factors, and treatment planning for lame cows is likely to help decrease lameness prevalence.
跛行是奶牛养殖业中最重要的福利和生产力问题之一。我们的目标是获得生产者对其流行率的估计及其对跛行的看法，并调查生产者如何在牛舍（TS）、带挤奶厅的自由卧床（FS）和自动化挤奶系统（AMS）牛群中监测跛行。在 237 个加拿大奶牛场的每个农场中，由经过培训的研究人员对 40 头焦点奶牛进行跛行评分。同一天，生产者完成了一份问卷。生产者估计的平均 herd-level 跛行流行率为 9.0%（±0.9%；±SE），而研究人员观察到的平均流行率为 22.2%（±0.9%）。生产者和研究人员估计的跛行流行率之间的相关性较低（r = 0.19），在 AMS、FS 和 TS 农场中，研究人员的平均流行率分别高出 1.6、1.8 和 4.1 倍。共有 48%的生产者认为跛行是他们牛群中的一个中度或主要问题（TS = 34%；AMS = 53%；FS = 59%）。三分之一的生产者认为跛行是他们试图控制的最高排名健康问题，而三分之二的生产者（TS = 43%；AMS = 63%；FS = 71%）表示他们在过去 2 年中已经做出了管理上的改变来应对跛行。几乎所有的生产者（98%）都表示他们会定期检查奶牛以发现新的跛行病例；然而，有 40%的生产者没有记录跛行（AMS = 24%；FS = 23%；TS = 60%）。大多数（69%）生产者在发现跛行后立即自行治疗跛行奶牛，而 13%的生产者则依赖蹄修工或兽医来制定治疗计划。生产者意识到跛行是奶牛场的一个问题，几乎所有的生产者都将监测跛行作为他们日常工作的一部分。然而，生产者低估了跛行的流行率，这表明在所有的饲养系统中，尤其是在 TS 牛群中，跛行的检测仍然很困难。培训以提高检测、记录保存、识别特定于农场的风险因素以及治疗计划对于跛行奶牛可能有助于降低跛行的流行率。
