Magrin Luisa, Cozzi Giulio, Lora Isabella, Prevedello Paola, Gottardo Flaviana
Department of Animal Medicine, Production and Health, University of Padova, Padova, Italy.
Front Vet Sci. 2022 Feb 25;9:824371. doi: 10.3389/fvets.2022.824371. eCollection 2022.
Claw disorders are among the most relevant health problems in dairy herds. Despite being often not clearly visible and not easily detectable for farmers, they may appear as peculiar cow behavioral and performance patterns. This retrospective study aimed to assess cow's behavior and production variations associated with claw disorders. The study involved 54 lactating Italian Holstein cows reared on the same dairy farm. A veterinarian performed the routine hoof trimming every 6 months, diagnosing specific claw disorders. Multiparous cows with no disorders at the first trimming were selected and monitored for the two following trimming sessions. Data coming from the automatic milking system and neck collars and related to the 15 days before a given cow was diagnosed with claw problems during trimming were further collected. These data were compared with those recorded for the same animal over the 15 days preceding the previous trimming in which no claw disorders were observed. Compared to when they had no disorders, the cows affected by claw disorders had a lower daily activity (405 vs. 429 ± 27.7 units/day, < 0.001), showing a constant decrease in the last 10 days before the trimming, a lower milk yield (26.5 vs. 28.4 ± 1.57 kg/day, = 0.03), and only a decreasing trend of rumination time. These patterns of activity, milk yield, and rumination characterizing cows affected by claw disorders should promote the development of specific algorithms that would enable early detection of lameness thanks to the deviations of these parameters that are sensitive to cow claw health.
蹄病是奶牛群中最严重的健康问题之一。尽管对养殖户来说，蹄病往往不明显且不易察觉，但它们可能表现为奶牛特殊的行为和生产模式。这项回顾性研究旨在评估与蹄病相关的奶牛行为和生产变化。该研究涉及54头在同一奶牛场饲养的意大利荷斯坦泌乳奶牛。一名兽医每6个月进行一次常规蹄部修剪，并诊断特定的蹄病。选择首次修剪时无疾病的经产奶牛，并在接下来的两次修剪期间进行监测。进一步收集来自自动挤奶系统和颈圈的数据，这些数据与某头奶牛在修剪时被诊断出有蹄部问题前15天有关。将这些数据与同一头奶牛在前一次修剪前15天（当时未观察到蹄病）记录的数据进行比较。与无疾病时相比，患蹄病的奶牛每日活动量较低（405对429±27.7单位/天，<0.001），在修剪前最后10天呈持续下降趋势，产奶量较低（26.5对28.4±1.57千克/天，=0.03），反刍时间仅呈下降趋势。受蹄病影响的奶牛的这些活动、产奶量和反刍模式，应能促进开发特定算法，由于这些对奶牛蹄部健康敏感的参数出现偏差，从而能够早期检测出跛行。
