As cows are getting dried off, it is recommended that your cows undergo a routine hoof inspection and trimming to prevent lameness and body condition score (BCS) loss.
Agriland spoke with Wicklow hoof trimmer, Gerry Phibbs who started hoof trimming cows on his father’s farm in 1983 before going to Warrenstown College in 1985/1986.
Phibbs is qualified as a professional hoof trimmer with a Dutch diploma and to this day, serves as a foot trimmer in the Blessington/Wicklow area.
Phibbs told Agriland that “a routine trimming is crucial at drying off and should be followed by a morning and evening foot bath every week”.
Cost of lameness
Phibbs said that “farmers are underestimating the cost of lameness completely, and that one case of lameness could be costing €500/cow“.
Talking about a recent farm visit he had, Phibbs said ” there was a cow identified as lame on July 11, was paired on July 22 and was giving 40L/day prior to lameness, the next day she was giving 30L/day”.
Phibbs emphasised that the cost in loss of production associated with lameness is drastically underrated, as the same farm had a number of cows in a similar state, and lost €2,500 worth of milk production in 10 days.
The aim of inspecting cows’ hooves once a year is to identify those that need preventative hoof trimming or other treatment.
The aim of preventative hoof trimming is to correct any overgrowth in the claws of the hoof, as overgrowth of the hoof can alter weight bearing within the hoof, and predispose the cow to becoming lame in the future.
Routine hoof trimming is an important part of maintaining healthy hoof shape and growth, which makes the hoof more resistant to injury.
Phibbs said that “one lameness episode could last five months and could cause a 20-25% reduction in milk production.
“If milk price is at €5/kg/milk solids (MS) and you have an average production of 500kg/MS/cow, take 20% off that and you’re going to be losing out on 100kg of solids, it’s very simple.”
Phibbs said that “the way farmers should be looking at it is that us hoof trimmers are charged to go out and inspect the feet and then trim anything that needs to be trimmed for free”, which a far more preventative approach.
“If you don’t need to do much with feet, then fine, we won’t do it, but you should be running the cows through the crate to see if there are any issues coming on like sole ulcers or bruises,” Phibbs added.
The benefits of an inspection coming on are quite simple according to Phibbs and are as follows:
- Prevent lameness from occurring;
- Prevent loss of BCS over the dry period;
- Help the cows calve down with ease;
- Help the cows get back into calf.
Phibbs said that the hidden cost of lameness is cows not going back in calf or in severe scenarios, slipping their calf leading to other health and welfare issues.
Footbath
Phibbs recommended that the cows go through a footbath one morning and one evening every week, while making sure that there is enough product in the bath.
1L of mixed solution per cow is needed for the bath to be effective, while putting a 5% mix of formulant or other products into it.
So, if you have 250 cows going through the bath, you need 250L of liquid in the bath with 15L of product, and it should be changed after the 250 cows go through.
“Digital dermatitis comes back within five days, so farmers need to be putting cows through every week, to keep the disease at bay, once-a-month is nowhere near enough,” Phibbs added.
Pre-washing feet “is completely ineffective” according to the Wicklow man as he said “if you dip your finger in water, take it out, and then put it back in, your finger is not going to be any wetter”.
Phibbs is one of the hoof trainers for EKO hoof care along with Francis Burns, who specialise in training farmers and teaching them how to trim feet and how to act on issues around lameness.