Lameness in cows from large and small dairy herds in southern Chile

Abstract

This study was carried out in order to determine the prevalence of lame cows, the frequency of the lesions and the degree of cow's lameness in 91 dairy farms of the X^th Region in Chile. Thirty-four large dairy herds (LDH) with 10,159 (299 ± 57) cows and 57 small dairy herds (SDH) with 1,600 (28 ± 19) cows were visited once each, between August and December of 2004. During the visit the locomotion of all milking cows was observed. The degree of lameness was scored from 0 (not lame) to 4 (severe lameness). In lame cows all four feet were examined. Cow's data was recorded on individual recording sheets, being introduced as numerical variables in an Excel spread sheat, and analyzed using the statistical software Statistixs 8.0. The difference in prevalence between large and small herds and between different degrees of lameness was determined using χ² Test. The prevalence of lameness was 33.12% in LDH and 28.7% in SDH (P < 0.02). From the total lame cows 50.85% and 44.05% had a lameness score ≥ 2 in the LDH and SDH, respectively. The three main lesions in large farms were white line lesions (54.9%), solear haemorrhage (52.7%) and heel erosion (48.4%) while in the small farms it was the white line lesions (82.5%), heel erosion (53.3%) and solear haemorrhage (24.6%). Ninety-two percent of the lesions were found in the hind limbs, in both types of herds. It was concluded that there is a high prevalence of lameness in dairy farms of the X^th Region. The prevalence and frequency of presentation of the lesions in LDH differed from those found in SDH.