When tackling any issue on farm, early detection and fast effective treatment is often best achieved with a team approach between farmer, vet, and any other advisors. According to Jon Reader, RCVS recognised Specialist in Cattle Health and Production, tackling dairy cow lameness should be no exception.

“There are often a number of advisors being used on farm to tackle lameness, so it’s important that everyone is working together towards the same result.

“Nearly every investigation into lameness on farm has shown that there are always improvements relating to foot trimming management which can be implemented, whether that be frequency, cow selection, trimming technique or equipment.

“Every farm should have a nominated ‘foot first aider’. It doesn’t need to be a professional foot trimmer to give first aid to alleviate the pain in the short term.

“The key thing is to get your foot trimmer talking to your vet as there’s often a bit of a breakdown of communication here. If there is a case that needs extra attention, that cow needs to be rapidly referred to a vet, and that often doesn’t happen.

“If you can get a dynamic team of vet, foot trimmer, farmer, working together then that can be invaluable, because providing early and effective treatment every time is the important thing.”

Recent research from the University of Nottingham has highlighted that quick, effective treatment has a significant impact on the likelihood of a cow recovering from claw horn lesions.

“By assessing the cows and monitoring mobility scoring on a regular basis, you can immediately recognise cows that are going lame. Within 24 hours these cases need to have their feet picked up, and have effective treatment.

“We’ve now discovered that inflammation is critical to setting up a vicious cycle of events which leads to lameness, and can then also cause problems during and after lameness has been treated. If we can prevent that inflammation, by giving non-steroidals (NSAIDs) early on, then we can dramatically improve the treatment rate and success of our trimming.

“The evidence shows that if you use NSAID (ketoprofen) at the same time as you put a block on, you will get almost double the effectiveness of the block alone.

“For me, there has to be a pretty good reason not to give an injection of NSAID if you put on a block, because the cow gets the pain relief there and then. It reduces any further inflammation, which may have triggered the problem in the first place, but it actually also allows them to cope better with the block, and tends to help them recover quicker.

“On the back of the research, we know that you get an improvement if you get a block on, but if you use an NSAID (ketoprofen) as well as a block, you get nearly double the response.

By utilising a team approach between farmer, foot trimmer and vet, cows can be treated quicker, and alongside a preventative strategy, whole herd lameness level can be improved.