I was recently approached by a producer who had begun to question the ultimate success rate of the footbath method and how to measure the return on investment. He felt frustrated and overwhelmed: He had used the footbath so often and yet he still had an unacceptable rate of lameness in his herd. I would like to explore this issue further in this article. To give a better overview, I've split this topic into various headings.
1. The method itself: the use of the footbath.
The footbath method has been used in the dairy industry for over 40 years and some positive and negative experiences have been gained over this time period.
• On a positive note, the footbath has a definite place in a lameness prevention program. Properly used footbaths that are cleaned regularly are an asset for most dairies. The most important aspect is not the footbath itself, though, but the records that go with the footbath management. Someone should be in charge of monitoring cow hoof lameness at any given time: recording the cause and treating the individual animals by trimming or wrapping the feet. And what about the follow-ups: did the animals recover? Use these recordings for fine-tuning your cow hoof footbath protocol to optimize the prevention of lameness.
• Foot bathing is often seen as a 'time-saver': "there are only 24 hours in a day and we cannot always take care of our lame cows." Research has shown that, at any given time, 25-30% of cows in North America are lame, which indicates that the footbath method is not sufficiently effective and that there are some challenges to overcome.
• Often cow hoof footbaths are used as a method to treat lameness instead of being part of a prevention approach. When the herd is showing some lameness, the cause is assumed to be an infectious disease (foot rot, heel warts) and the footbath is put in place or used religiously for a while. But really, what is the cause of cow hoof lameness? Not all lameness can be 'fixed' or prevented by using a footbath. Do you have a plan in place for the cows that remain lame even after an extensive use of any footbath method? Or better yet, treat all lame cows before you run a footbath program. This gives you some benchmarks to judge the successfulness of the footbath over a period of time and provides a focus to take care of the causative factors in a more effective way, either by adjusting cow hoof foot bathing protocols or cow hoof trimming frequency.
• The footbath gets polluted very fast, so that the first cows get the benefit and the last cows have to walk through the dirty solution. As a matter of fact, your lame cows, the slower group, are the ones that end up with the most contaminated bath and they are the ones that need the cow hoof bath treatment the most.
• I've seen a lot of herds where the cows are reluctant to walk through any type of footbath. When this method is used in a herd with lameness and the solution being used is very harsh on the animals' feet, what does it do to the animals? If a sole ulcer or even a cow hoof heel wart (both are exposed lesions) are brought into contact with a solution that causes stinging, I guarantee that this cow will remember and try to avoid that footbath for the rest of her life! Footbaths are not the ultimate treatment baths! If you know that the animal is lame, deal with the individual cow hoof problem as you would with mastitis. The results and benefit will be much greater.
• Most cow hoof footbath solutions are quickly mixed before milking and placed in a return lane from the milking parlor, which is the most logical place. But what about the person handling the various products? Are the cow hoof products safe for the user? Could the fumes be hazardous? As a cow hoof trimmer, I've smelled formaldehyde the whole day because it had been used in the footbath: maybe we should be wearing masks when doing our trimming job to protect ourselves from the fumes.
• In some areas, field contamination is also becoming a factor. All the footbath solutions have to be dumped and where do all those chemicals end up?
2. Lameness: not judged by everyone in the same way.
Not every producer judges lameness in the same way. Some 'allow' some lameness to occur, while others have a sleepless night if one cow is not walking right. Therefore, I refer to the Zinpro lameness scoring chart to get everyone on the same page regarding the definition of lameness ( http://www.zinpro.com/lameness/dairy/locomotion-scoring ). On the other hand, be honest and monitor the cows' gait: you know what hurts, you can see when she is content, and you know you're happy when milk production is good. It's a fact that a lame cow will not produce very well. Some speak about 'acceptable levels of lameness', but really, don't get too complacent: the truth is that cow hoof lameness increases if left to itself. Please shoot for zero percent lameness in your herd: anything above that is a loss. Standardizing lameness scoring is therefore a must for judging the success of any foot bathing method used in your herd.
3. How to use the footbath in a better way
Nevertheless, footbaths are an essential part of the total cow hoof care protocol. The best way to get ahead in the 'lameness challenge' is to:
1) Find any lame cow in your herd and take care of her ASAP by lifting the foot. She needs your help to be able to perform to her best capacity and she will reward you with better production. I've seen larger herd owners that challenged their employees on this. They rewarded them with a bonus per lame cow found and treated in the cow hoof-trimming chute. Eventually you'll notice that the employees really are 'sniffing' for lameness to get their bonus, but guess what - the herd owner is getting the benefits.
This 'individual approach' is the most important part of the cow hoof care protocol. It is like mastitis with milking: the sooner you get it solved, the better the success rate. And, of course, just as post-dipping the teats is important to prevent mastitis, so is foot bathing for the feet to prevent lameness. However, if other aspects in management are failing, you can teat-dip as much as you want, but mastitis will still occur. The same happens with foot bathing: it's only one aspect of the total cow hoof care program.
2) The next procedure is a topical spray, which is used on all back feet. This spraying ought to be done once per week and it's a great way to focus on the cow hoof health of your herd. When using this method, you should also make sure to have a notepad or whiteboard in the parlor. This gives you the opportunity to write down the numbers of all cows that are not walking correctly and to bring them to the hoof trimming table to get this corrected. As I've stated before, have a reward system in place to encourage your milkers to find the lame cows. It will be rewarding for them, but more so for you as the herd owner.
If the above steps do not cover the lameness challenges completely, then perhaps you should consider adding a well-managed footbath as an additional preventative method. Run these cow hoof protocols for a while and fine-tune them on the go. You'll notice that the more intense cow hoof care approach will give you a great Return on Investment.
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