Education Critical for Effective
Cattle Lameness Management
New Experts Talk video highlights two industry-leading programs.
When it comes to effectively managing lameness in dairy and beef cattle, there is no magic bullet. The cause is often complex, involving factors such as housing conditions, management practices, nutrition and the environment.
“Since lameness essentially affects everything an animal does in a given day, its impact on animal well-being and productivity — as well as herd profitability — is costly and wide-reaching,” said Mike Socha, regional Research and Nutritional Services (RNS) manager of North America for Zinpro Corp. “Effectively managing lameness takes a commitment to understanding the issue and to systematically address key factors causing lameness within the herd.”
In the most recent episode of the award-winning Experts Talk lameness prevention video series, Socha and Connie Larson, ruminant RNS manager for Zinpro Corp., discuss the industrywide efforts sponsored by Zinpro Corp. to help assess, diagnose and prevent lameness in dairy and beef cattle. Socha and Larson are widely known within the industry for their expertise in ruminant animals and lameness management.
“When we talk about lameness with producers, they typically think about animals that are extremely lame,” said Larson. “They often miss the animals that are mildly lame. This is where we have the biggest opportunity to improve animal well-being and profitability.”
To the untrained eye, early lameness indicators and common risk factors may go unnoticed. Producers can use educational tools, such as locomotion scoring for dairy cattle and beef cattle to learn how to identify lameness symptoms at an early (mild) stage, when management and treatment protocols are most effective.
Through lameness-management programs such as the First Step® Program for dairy cattle and Step-Up™ Program for beef cattle, producers and others involved in caring for animals can gain access to valuable lameness management tools and resources. Educational posters for dairy cattle locomotion scoring and lesion identification are available upon request.
Educational posters for beef cattle locomotion scoring and lesion identification are also available upon request. The First Step and Step-Up programs help provide a systematic approach for identifying, managing and preventing cattle lameness, which helps those caring for the animals better recognize and understand the signs, as well as the underlying causes of lameness.
The Experts Talk online video series features one-on-one discussions with leading authorities on foot health and lameness prevention for multiple species. Each episode features a different expert discussing topics that range from lameness detection to treating claw lesions that cause lameness to best-management practices for lameness prevention. To learn more, visit the Experts Talk video library at www.Zinpro.com.
Editor’s Note: This article is from Zinpro Corp.