Mobility scoring as effective as foot-trimming, study finds

Pre-calving foot-trimming has no significant effect on lameness post-calving, research has revealed.

In fact, mobility scoring can be just as effective in preventing lameness.  

Researchers from the Royal Veterinary College carried out a two-year farm trial to assess the effect of foot-trimming in 400 Holstein heifers.

They split the heifers up into four groups. Some were only mobility scored three weeks pre-calving and at 100 days in milk (DIM), others were foot-trimmed using the Dutch five-step method at these stages and two more groups were either mobility scored or foot-trimmed (see table). Everything was foot-trimmed at drying off.

See also: Link between body condition and lameness

All heifers were mobility scored every two weeks during the study and 12-months post calving to assess if the different treatments had any subsequent effect on lameness.

Sophie Maherndran, who led the study, said the results were very “surprising”.

She expected the cows that had been foot-trimmed regularly to have lower levels of lameness in line with previous studies that have been conducted on cows in milk, but in fact lameness was near identical across all groups.

Miss Maherndran said one of the reasons for the results may have been because heifers in the trial were housed all year on concentrate and sand-bedded cubicles, which she believed “pre-conditioned” cow’s hooves to the environment.

“If cows are out at grass their feet are softer, but you get a lot more bruising when the cows change to a hard flooring.”

In other systems she said foot-trimming might prevent lameness.

“On a lot of units cows may well have been out at grass with softer feet and the effect of foot-trimming pre-calving may be greater.”

See also: How one farmer is preventing lameness in dairy heifers

But Miss Maherndran said the research showed that mobility scoring regularly is key, whatever method of foot-trimming is used.

“Mobility scoring [post calving] is as effective as foot-trimming. But if you really can’t mobility score, if you foot-trim everything your lameness will be as good as if you mobility score everything.”

She said ideally dairy farmers must mobility score at least once a month or at the very least every quarter.

“You want to see them walking from a lateral aspect and behind.”

She now hopes to roll the study out to other dairy systems.