Grimm K, Fiedler A, Kröger C
Hoof Health Associates (Praxisgemeinschaft für Klauengesundheit) Dres. med. vet. Fiedler, Grimm & Kröger, 80999 Munich, Germany.
Hoof Health Associates (Praxisgemeinschaft für Klauengesundheit) Dres. med. vet. Fiedler, Grimm & Kröger, 80999 Munich, Germany.
J Dairy Sci. 2025 Feb;108(2):1869-1881. doi: 10.3168/jds.2024-25134. Epub 2024 Oct 29.
The regular application of hoof care and cleaning products is an important part of protocols designed to reduce burden of disease caused by the ubiquitous and multifactorial hoof disease digital dermatitis (DD) in dairy cows. Commonly used hoof care products such as formalin or copper sulfate applied through foot baths or by spraying hindfeet are often irritant to the skin as well as harmful to the environment or human health, and scientifically proven evidence of their efficacy is scarce. Thus, in a clinical controlled trial, we investigated whether the use of a hoof care product based on a mix of iron complex salts, zinc salts, and aluminum designed to reduce bacterial load on the skin and to support the natural skin barrier, was able to sustainably reduce disease severity and prevent new cases in 132 cows in 2 dairy herds (n = 72, n = 60) in Germany. From Dec 2021 to Dec 2022 only one predefined hind foot of every cow was washed and sprayed with the product twice a week (treatment group), the other hind foot was only washed (control group). Heifers joining the herd were sprayed for at least 4 wk beforehand according to the same treatment and control regimen. During the trial, hooves were numerically scored for DD lesions on a monthly basis using a disease severity score (A): from 0 = no lesion, up to 60 = ulcerative lesion ≥2.5 cm and categorically with 3 categories (B): none, nonactive, and active. Results A: Mean area under the curve of the numerical score that summarizes development over time was substantially and significantly smaller in the treatment group. Results B: Two-step regression analysis for the outcome category at evaluation day (with exclusion of the first baseline evaluation) showed that during the trial, compared with the treatment group, odds of having a lesion rather than none was 4 times higher in the control group and the odds of having an active lesion compared with an inactive one were almost 6 times higher in the control group. Additionally, spraying had a significant preventive effect for the feet of heifers (n = 17) introduced to the herd during the trial on farm 1: Only one active lesion occurred in the treatment group with numerous active lesions observed in the control group and mean area under the curve of the numerical score over time was significantly lower in the treatment group, too. No active lesions occurred in the heifers of farm 2 (n = 12) in either of the study groups. The iron, zinc, and aluminum-based product effectively reduced disease prevalence and disease severity during the 1-yr study period in the examined dairy herds, and data from heifers suggest that the application of the product to heifers 4 wk before entering a herd with controlled DD management measures has high potential for prevention of the disease.
定期使用蹄部护理和清洁产品是旨在减轻奶牛普遍存在的多因素蹄部疾病——趾间皮炎（DD）所引起疾病负担的方案的重要组成部分。常用的蹄部护理产品，如通过足浴或喷洒后蹄使用的福尔马林或硫酸铜，通常对皮肤有刺激性，对环境或人类健康也有害，而且其功效的科学证据稀缺。因此，在一项临床对照试验中，我们调查了一种基于铁络合盐、锌盐和铝的混合物设计的蹄部护理产品，该产品旨在减少皮肤上的细菌负荷并支持天然皮肤屏障，是否能够在德国的2个奶牛场（n = 72，n = 60）的132头奶牛中持续降低疾病严重程度并预防新病例。从2021年12月到2022年12月，每周给每头奶牛预先确定的一只后蹄清洗并喷洒该产品两次（治疗组），另一只后蹄仅进行清洗（对照组）。加入牛群的小母牛根据相同的治疗和对照方案预先喷洒至少4周。在试验期间，每月使用疾病严重程度评分（A）对蹄部的DD病变进行数字评分：从0 = 无病变，到60 = 溃疡性病变≥2.5厘米，并分为3类（B）：无、非活动性和活动性。结果A：总结随时间发展的数字评分的曲线下平均面积在治疗组中显著更小。结果B：在评估日（排除第一次基线评估）对结果类别进行的两步回归分析表明，在试验期间，与治疗组相比，对照组有病变而非无病变的几率高4倍，有活动性病变而非非活动性病变的几率在对照组中几乎高6倍。此外，喷洒对试验期间引入农场1的牛群中的小母牛（n = 17）的蹄部有显著的预防作用：治疗组仅出现1例活动性病变，而对照组观察到许多活动性病变，且随时间变化的数字评分的曲线下平均面积在治疗组中也显著更低。农场2（n = 12）的小母牛在两个研究组中均未出现活动性病变。在为期1年的研究期间，基于铁、锌和铝的产品在被检查的奶牛场中有效降低了疾病患病率和疾病严重程度，并且来自小母牛的数据表明，在采用可控的DD管理措施的牛群中，在小母牛进入牛群前4周给它们使用该产品具有很高的疾病预防潜力。
