I have come across the comment a few times that people are confused about the advice they are getting regarding lameness. There are contradicting messages going around from professionals about the causes of lameness, especially when it comes to tracks. It has come to my attention that people hear me saying that I don’t believe […]
OAD or TAD? That’s the question. When you hear a farmer talk about OAD (Once-A-Day) milking it is often noted that cows are so much happier. Milk production does not seem to drop that much, and they have a lot less lame cows. If you go by that, why wouldn’t you go OAD milking and […]
We recently held another Hoof Care Expo and the theme was “Are stones really an issue for your cows?” It amazes me how convinced people are that stones can penetrate hooves and that bruises in the hoof are caused by stones. I often ask this question and I will do it again now. How do […]
Around mating time lameness seems to increase. Most people believe that the reason for this is the extra pressure that is on the hooves when a cow is being bulled by another cow. This goes alongside the theory that hooves get damaged by pushing, twisting and turning. Even many non-agricultural based people assume that to […]
Do you understand the benefits of claw blocks? It is quite interesting what sort of responses farmers give to this question. Some think they are wonderful, some think they are too expensive, some struggle to make them stick on for any longer than a few steps and some make comments like “just make sure you […]
We are now starting the dry period. Another season has gone by and it is time to refresh and take life a little easier. Some of you may even go away on a holiday. Cows are gone for the winter or, if we have them on the run-off, we only must feed them and leave […]
What is preventative hoof trimming? I have been on farms where they had done their own preventative hoof trimming during the year. When I started doing my trimming I had to explain what I was doing and it turned out to be quite different from the way that they did it. This made me wonder […]
Can hoof trimming have a negative effect on a cow? If so, how would you know? I guess most farmers don’t spend too much time thinking about that. To me, it seems that hoof trimming is perceived as a job that “just needs to be done”. Most people would say that it is better to […]
The season is now well under way and the Winter has been very good to us during calving – at least here in Canterbury. But even with a good Spring we still get lame cows. Why is this? What are the risk factors for lameness? We see an increased prevalence of lameness during mating, and […]
It is not far off from calving now, in fact some have already started. What are the points that are important to minimize lameness at this time of the year? Being the start of the season it is important to realize what the risk factors are, and how to manage them as this will have […]
