Incidences of claw lesions in Austrian dairy herds in relation to lactation number, lactation month, housing system and breed

Claw health of Austrian dairy herds was evaluated using data collected in the project 'KlauenQ-Wohl' from 28,638 cattle in 526 dairy farms. We calculated the incidence of claw lesions and examined the relationships between cumulative incidence of claw lesions and lactation number, lactation month, housing type and breed. Claw health data were electronically documented by hoof trimmers from 2010 to 2019. Data were subjected to validity checks and hoof trimmers underwent inter-observer reliability testing. During the observation period of ten years, only 12.4 % of cows were hoof-trimmed at approximately and after 305 days, 28.3 % during their first 100 DIM and 59.3 % between their 101 and 305 DIM. The mean incidences during the ten-year-observation period were 59.2 % for heel horn erosion, 42.6 % for whiteline-lesions, 29.6 % for digital dermatitis (DD), 14.2 % for ulcers at all claw locations and 29.5 % for claw lesions that are always associated with pain and lameness ('alarm' lesions). Herd prevalence of DD in 2019 was 48.9 %. Cows in higher lactations had significantly higher incidences of concave dorsal walls, sole haemorrhages, sole ulcers, white-line-lesions and heel horn erosion, while heifers, cows in their first two lactations and cows around parturition showed significantly higher incidences of DD and interdigital phlegmon (foot rot). The mean incidence of all claw lesions was significantly (p<0.05) higher in cows kept in loose housing systems (85.3 %) than in cows kept in tie stalls (79.6 %). Fleckvieh cows had the highest overall incidence of all claw lesions of 89.5 %, followed by Holstein Friesian cows with 87.4 % and Brown Swiss cows with 72.1 %. 'Alarm' lesions (44.3 %) and DD (42.1 %) were most frequent in Holstein Friesian cows. To reduce the incidence of claw lesions, hoof trimming at dry-off and again around 40-60 DIM could be implemented, with significant benefits to claw health.

Landwirtschaftliches Zentrum Baden-Württemberg​
ZuchtData EDV-Dienstleistungen GmbH
Veterinärmedizinische Universität Wien
Universität für Bodenkultur