Matshetsheni Sibulele, Jaja Ishmael Festus
Department of Livestock and Pasture Science, University of Fort Hare, Alice 5700, South Africa.
Department of Agriculture and Animal Health, University of South Africa, Roodepoort, Johannesburg, South Africa.
Vet World. 2024 Aug;17(8):1789-1797. doi: 10.14202/vetworld.2024.1789-1797. Epub 2024 Aug 20.
Observing lameness in dairy cows is the primary animal-based indicator of their overall welfare and health status. The study evaluated dairy farmworkers' understanding of bovine lameness's causes, risk factors, and clinical symptoms in Kwa-Zulu Natal Province, South Africa.
Eleven dairy farms provided the data through questionnaires. The questionnaire consisted of five sections: The first section (A) gathered demographic data (age, gender, experience, level of study), and the second section (B) dealt with farm specifics (size, grazing method). Sections C, D, and E cover farm workers' knowledge of lameness risk factors, clinical signs of lameness, and treatment and management of lameness, respectively.
About 85.5% of horses experience lameness during summer, contrasted to 15% during autumn. The seasonal results were statistically significant (p < 0.05). 93% of respondents identified a decrease in appetite as the most common sign of lameness, while 94% reported reduced milk yield and 90% increased lying time; a significant correlation was found between awareness of clinical signs and localities (p < 0.05). Age, gender, and occupation level (p < 0.05) were identified as contributing factors to the movement problem in the dairy industry, necessitating training for farm workers to enhance their knowledge.
Although there is a satisfactory (81%) understanding of lameness by farm workers. There is still need for improvement, hence, farm worker training and retraining are essential for managing and reducing the instances of bovine lameness.
观察奶牛跛行是衡量其整体福利和健康状况的主要基于动物的指标。本研究评估了南非夸祖鲁-纳塔尔省奶农对奶牛跛行的病因、风险因素及临床症状的了解情况。
11个奶牛场通过问卷调查提供了数据。问卷由五个部分组成：第一部分（A）收集人口统计学数据（年龄、性别、经验、学历水平），第二部分（B）涉及农场具体情况（规模、放牧方式）。C、D、E部分分别涵盖奶农对跛行风险因素、跛行临床症状以及跛行治疗与管理的知识。
约85.5%的马匹在夏季出现跛行，而秋季为15%。季节结果具有统计学意义（p < 0.05）。93%的受访者认为食欲下降是跛行最常见的症状，94%报告产奶量减少，90%报告躺卧时间增加；临床症状认知与地区之间存在显著相关性（p < 0.05）。年龄、性别和职业水平（p < 0.05）被确定为乳制品行业行动问题的促成因素，因此需要对农场工人进行培训以提高他们的知识水平。
尽管农场工人对跛行有令人满意（81%）的了解。但仍有改进的必要，因此，对农场工人进行培训和再培训对于管理和减少奶牛跛行的发生至关重要。
