Incidence and risk factors of bovine lameness in small-scale dairy farms

Abstract

Reviews the findings of a recent survey which studied the incidence, type and risk factors for lameness on 78 randomly selected small-scale dairy farms in central Kenya. In the farms studied, occurrence of lameness and subclinical foot lesions were found to be strongly associated with continous confinement, early lactation and the Jersey breed. Variation among individuals was found to be relatively more important in explaining the occurrence of lameness than that among herds. Increasing length of the dorsal hoof wall, which was often accompanied by a shallower heel and an acute dorsal angle, was strongly associated with clinical lameness and digital lesions