Cow Health
5 factors that influence hoof health
That good hoof health in cows is important, everyone readily agrees. But why in practice is it sometimes quite a challenge to maintain hoof health? Hoof health is influenced by several factors that together determine how well a cow can move. This can be summarised as:
Locomotion = Barn design + Hygiene & Climate + Preventive hoof care + Nutrition
In a series of five articles, hoof health expert André Janse, Farm Management Specialist at Lely, takes a closer look at this topic and shares valuable insights and practical tips.
Preventive hoof care 4/5
Of course, preventing hoof problems is always better than curing them. A management style focused on prevention therefore consists of prevention of infectious diseases (e.g. deployment of automatic spray bar or automatic hoof bath) and regular preventive pedicure of cows. This requires commitment of labour that is not automatically available externally. On larger farms, the farmer has to organise this himself. After all, preventive management remains necessary. To fit this into the labour cycle, it is desirable to apply weekly hoof care to some of the animals in a way that each animal is still checked twice a year. A good method is to do this for the first time in the week when the animal is 100 days in lactation and once at the end of lactation when the animal will be put dry. A suitable treatment box in the management area is necessary here. Task-oriented work with tools such as the right setting in Horizon can be useful here. Animals are then waiting for a grooming session on the right day in the right place. A cow should then easily be guided into the hoof care box by one person.
In this way, excess horn can be removed twice a year, inspection takes place and hoof care is staggered without causing a spike in the labour film.
