Perceptions of lameness in dairy herds

Lameness is a problem in the UK dairy industry. It costs a lot of money and it gives consumers a bad impression of dairy farming. It causes poor welfare for cows. It is not necessarily straight forwards to tackle because there are many causes and there is no single solution which fits every farm the same (Figure 1).

For farm veterinary surgeons, helping farms reduce lameness is one of the most challenging aspects of their work. The reasons are many, but include that a long-term approach is required, farmers tend to under-estimate their lameness levels and almost always the financial impact, and the subject can be emotive. Identifying the best interventions, then motivating action so they are implemented, are difficult tasks requiring a multitude of skills.

This article examines some of the issues and potential ways forward.

Around 30–32% of all adult dairy cows are lame at any one time (Atkinson and Fisher, 2013; Griffiths et al, 2018; Randall et al, 2019). That equates to 560 000 cows in GB being lame and therefore in pain every day. This is costing dairy farmers around £8.5 million each week; around £0.45 billion per year; or a mean of £42 000 per farm per year. This equates to approximately 3 pence per litre.