Lameness plan targets 10% national reduction in cases

Ambitious national dairy herd lameness targets to cut lameness to 5% on 95% of British dairy herds have been published as part of a new 21-point manifesto.

The GB Dairy Cow Lameness Manifesto has until 2044 to achieve its aims, following a four-pronged strategy.

The group’s launch comes after what senior lameness experts have described as a recent “plateauing” in industry efforts to reduce lameness.

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Dairy Cattle Mobility Steering Group chairman, Prof Martin Green of the University of Nottingham, says the national herd has a lameness prevalence of about 30%.

“The actions outlined in this industry-led manifesto should drive at least a 10% relative reduction in lameness prevalence year-on-year on a national scale, until at least 95% of all British dairy herds achieve a lameness rate of less than 5% by 2044,” he says.

The four strategies are:

• Include every dairy herd, regardless of the starting point
• Use farm-specific preventive plans to empower farmers to act
• Ensure implementation of all relevant knowledge and technology becomes the norm
• Incentivise farmers to achieve good foot health.

The manifesto has been developed by the Dairy Cattle Mobility Steering Group and is supported by Ruminant Health & Welfare (RH&W) and the AHDB.

Prof Green urges all farmers, vets, milk processors and advisers to show their support for the strategies by emailing  RuminantHW@ahdb.org.uk.

Action points within the strategies can be accessed on the RH&W website and include:

• Encouraging every farm to record whole-herd lameness prevalence
• Adopting a farm-specific lameness reduction action plan (such as the “Healthy Feet” programme)
• Harnessing genetic gain by using sires with lameness-resistant traits
• Sourcing milk from herds that can demonstrate their lameness levels at least on a six-monthly basis

“We’re not expecting everyone to adopt every action point in the manifesto, but if we can get lots of parties from different areas of the industry working together – and everyone doing their bit – then overall, lameness in the national herd will reduce over the years,” says Prof Green.

“It’s very possible to achieve minimal levels of lameness, as we now have the tools to do so – including genetic improvements and a rise in the number of different technologies available to identify lameness.”