Hoof Hygiene for Today and Tomorrow

By L R Lindsay

These days many producers still fail to see cow hoof disorders as a problem and often look back at the past 30 years for future guidance.

The footbath made a grand entrance in the early 1970s. And today one is still working with this concept.

Regular cow hoof care maintenance helps prevent cow hoof problems from reaching a drastic point where cows must be put down. Hence, where animal welfare is concerned, preventive hoof-care treatment should be viewed as an obligation. Moreover, the cows quickly reward this care with higher milk production.

The decision to trim the hooves on a regular basis is one that the dairy farmer will have to make on his own. He can either tend to this job himself, or ask a professional cow hoof trimmer or have his veterinarian do it. It is generally assumed that producers or recognized cow hoof trimmers who tend to do this job themselves have had the proper training for this and also for animal welfare, so that they can identify the cow hoof injuries and treat the cow accordingly.

Many cattle farmers assume that their job is done as soon as they have taken care of the hooves. This is not the case, unfortunately. By registering the injuries detected in each cow hoof at every stage of a check-up, the roots of any disorder can be found and the appropriate treatment sought.

There are many potential causes, for example poor nutrition, ill-proportioned freestalls, overcrowding, excessively abrasive floors in the freestalls, bad floors, excessive manure in the freestalls and on the alleys of the cow barn, excessively moist climate in the cowbarn, inordinate amount of sludge and pebbles in the herd collection pen in front of the cowbarn, around the water-trough or around the alleys to the pastures. The timely detection and efficient handling of these factors should, in time, greatly improve the state of the relevant herd's hoof health in its entirety.

Cow Mobility

Cow mobility is most essential to yielding good production. Various disorders reduce cow mobility.

These disorders can be roughly broken down into three categories. The first is mechanical damage; the direct cause of this is poorly designed or maintained stalls and alleys. These two elements can cause sole ulcers and whiteline defects or other kinds of cow hoof damage.

Another category is diseases that are related to inadequate feeding and nutrition. Nutrition plays a key role in an animal's well-being; one of the locations where the effects of dietary ration make their appearance is on the hooves, for example with claw deformation.

The last category relates to hygiene and the influence of parasites on cow hooves.

To fight this, much care and attention must be given to the climate in the cow facility and cow hoof cleanliness. This is where the footbath has made its most important contribution.

With the introduction of the loafing shed in the late 60s much light was shed on cow hoof-related problems, which have just been snowballing ever since.

To help contain this hoof problem, a sprinkling of lime was strewn on the free-stall bed to keep claws dry and hard. Very quickly the insides of the stalls were also strewn with a layer of lime. A footbath was then developed for the preventive and curative treatment of the animals. Over the years, this cow hoof bath has been developed into a bath with a profiled bottom no less than two meters in length. Otherwise, the bath is no different than it was then.

Various disinfectants have been used, some more effective than others, but all afflicted with the same problem- drastic reduction of effectiveness as soon as the solution in the footbath is contaminated.

There are two causes of contamination. Firstly, the animals' legs are dirty and some of this dirt is left behind in the bath.

Secondly, the animals excrete manure in the bath, which introduces a large amount of organic material into the bath. In time, the solution in the cow hoof bath turns more organic in nature, whereby the last (most crippled) animals stepping into the bath walk through a manure filled, rather than a disinfectant, bath.

Animals can excrete manure in the new Intra Bath footbath without fear of contaminating the disinfecting solution.

This can be done by making a pit grid in the middle of the cow hoof bath. The largest portion of manure, about 70%, therefore will not land in the bath.

The biggest advantage to this is that the cow hoof solution will remain effective for a longer period of time. More cows can walk through the bath before it needs to be refreshed. The shape of the new bath is designed to retain much of the original solution when the cows walk through it. This means that the liquid level will remain constant for a longer period of time so the last cows can also benefit from a marginal amount of liquid. The cow hoof bathing process takes place in two large steps, making a simple cleansing possible. Last, but certainly by no means a less important point, is that no liquid will accumulate in the centre, therefore one need use a smaller amount of the effective substance of choice every time. This not only benefits the environment but also your pocket.

Favourable effects on hoof health

A formalin solution and/or copper sulfate is usually sprinkled in the footbaths used today. Both substances exhibit favourable effects of cow hoof health.

Formalin is reasonably resistant to organic contamination, the likes of which are found in these types of tubs. Unfortunately, the formalin's effectiveness quickly diminishes when temperature drops below 15 degrees. Another adverse effect is that it induces cancer.

Copper sulfate is an effective bacteria killer, but it is, unfortunately, also very detrimental to the environment. There have been cases where the copper content of the soil has increased to a shocking level.

New Products

There is a gel called Hoof-Sol that has recently been recognized as an ideal approach to cow hoof treatment, and it is used by many producers, feed suppliers, cow hoof trimmers, and veterinarians to make/keep cow hoof disorders manageable. This treatment is a good option if you are looking for a better solution than cancer inducing or otherwise harmful chemicals.

The combination of bath and solution appears to be a unique concept for managing cow hoof disorders in modern dairy farming. A once-weekly walk through the bath will reduce your animals' hoof problems noticeably.

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