Arunvipas Pipat, Setkit Teerachad, Wongsanit Jaturong, Rukkwamsuk Theera, Homwong Nitipong, Sangmalee Anawat
Department of Large Animal and Wildlife Clinical Sciences, Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, Kasetsart University, Kamphaeng Saen Campus, Nakhon Pathom, Thailand.
Department of Animal Science, Faculty of Agriculture at Kamphaeng Saen, Kasetsart University, Kamphaeng Saen Campus, Nakhon Pathom, Thailand.
Vet World. 2023 Feb;16(2):258-263. doi: 10.14202/vetworld.2023.258-263. Epub 2023 Feb 11.
Lameness is a major complication in dairy cattle affecting health and milk production. Several factors are found to contribute to this condition and specific treatments are required, including the process of claw trimming. The elevation of the claw, such as with the application of a claw block, was reported to be beneficial in the more severe cases. This study aimed to determine the efficiency of a claw block on claw lesions of lame cows in dairy farms in Western Thailand.
Locomotion scores of 376 dairy cows were determined by a veterinarian using a scale of 1-5 (1 = normal; 5 = severely lame) at the time of the visit. Cows with a score of 3 or greater were defined as clinically lame. In total, 134 clinically lame cows from 11 dairy farms in the Kanchanaburi and Ratchaburi provinces were included in the analysis. Claw lesions included a white line abscess, bruised sole, sole ulcer, sole abscess, white line separate, and double soles. Wooden or rubber claw blocks were applied to the unaffected claw of the same hoof as the injured claw of 116 cows, which were classified as the treatment cases, and 18 cows were left untreated and classified as the control cases. Each cow was checked on every week of the healing process for 2 months unless the cow was culled earlier. Survival analysis was based on the Kaplan-Meier estimator and Cox Proportional Hazard regression.
The median healing time for lame cows with and without claw blocks was 21 and 36 days, respectively. After adjusting for the lesion severity and type, the lame cows with and without a claw block had hazard ratios of 2.16 and 3.08, respectively. The healing times between the four lesion types in cows with a claw block were not significantly different. The healing time was longer in lame cows, with a severity score of 4.
The results from this study reveal that the treatment of lame cows with claw blocks promoted the healing capacity of claw lesions after claw trimming.
跛行是奶牛的一种主要并发症，会影响健康和产奶量。已发现多种因素会导致这种情况，需要进行特定治疗，包括修蹄过程。据报道，抬高蹄爪，如使用蹄块，对更严重的病例有益。本研究旨在确定蹄块对泰国西部奶牛场跛行奶牛蹄部病变的疗效。
在访查时，由一名兽医使用1至5分的评分标准（1 = 正常；5 = 严重跛行）确定376头奶牛的运动评分。评分3分及以上的奶牛被定义为临床跛行。总共纳入了来自北碧府和叻丕府11个奶牛场的134头临床跛行奶牛进行分析。蹄部病变包括白线脓肿、蹄底挫伤、蹄底溃疡、蹄底脓肿、白线分离和双蹄底。对116头奶牛（分类为治疗组）受伤蹄爪同侧未受影响的蹄爪应用木制或橡胶蹄块，18头奶牛未接受治疗（分类为对照组）。在愈合过程的每一周对每头奶牛进行检查，持续2个月，除非奶牛提前被淘汰。生存分析基于Kaplan-Meier估计量和Cox比例风险回归。
使用和未使用蹄块的跛行奶牛的中位愈合时间分别为21天和36天。在调整病变严重程度和类型后，使用和未使用蹄块的跛行奶牛的风险比分别为2.16和3.08。使用蹄块的奶牛中四种病变类型之间的愈合时间无显著差异。严重程度评分为4分的跛行奶牛愈合时间更长。
本研究结果表明，用蹄块治疗跛行奶牛可提高修蹄后蹄部病变的愈合能力。
