Lameness in tied Danish dairy cattle: The possible influence of housing systems, management, milk yield, and prior incidents of lameness

Lameness constitutes a group of diseases which have a major impact on the welfare of affected animals, because lameness is usually associated with substantial pain and discomfort and is of long duration, Knowledge of the risk factors for lameness might be used to reduce the incidence of lameness. Therefore, a retrospective longitudinal study was conducted to determine the influence of several risk factors on the incidence of lameness in tied Danish dairy cattle. The information used originated from the Central Danish Disease Recording Scheme and from a questionnaire survey. Disease incidents occurring from 1 month before to 7 months after parturition were considered. To estimate the associations between nine different kinds of lameness in two successive lactations, Fisher's exact test was used. To determine the effect of other possible risk factors on foul in the foot (interdigital necrobacillosis) and hock lesions (tarsal cellulitis and its sequelae), multivariable random-effects logistic regression was used. The results indicate that many of the different kinds of lameness interrelate from one lactation to the next. The factors associated with increased risk of foul in the foot were: first parity, summer calving combined with outdoor grazing, use of yoke tie, and high average herd milk production. Risk factors for hock lesions were: breed (Danish Jersey lower than Red Danish and Danish Black and White), first parity, winter calving, use of electric cow trainer, and high average herd milk production.