By preventing a single episode of lameness, you can stop your cows losing body condition scores.
On average, New Zealand pasture fed cows lose 61kg of liveweight when lame – this is the equivalent of two condition scores for a cross-bred cow, a phenomenal amount of weight to lose.
Body condition score and lameness
Weight and lameness are related says Sue Campbell, Co-op Programme Manager (Veterinary).
“Studies show cows drop massive amounts of weight when lame,” says Sue.
“But the relationship goes the other way too. Cows in lighter body condition are more likely to become lame, while cows with a higher body condition score were less likely to suffer lameness. So, a higher body condition score is protective against lameness.”
Using body condition score
The mid-lactation body condition score is critical for setting cows up for success next season. Identifying lighter individual cows to dry off earlier will protect them from lameness, and improve production, reproduction and somatic cell count next season.
“We need to ensure cows are dried off at a body condition score that will enable them to calve down at 5 and 5.5 for mixed aged cows and heifers respectively,” Sue says. “With New Zealand wintering systems we can generally only put on half a body condition score each month that she’s dry, excluding the last month of pregnancy when she will not gain any body condition.”
This means actively identifying those lighter cows in mid-lactation and drying them off earlier to set them up to calve in target body condition, so they transition, and calve without issue and get back in calf to keep them in the herd.
What to do if she is lame?
If a cow is diagnosed as lame, then early diagnosis and prompt treatment helps immensely. Shortening the length and severity of lameness through quick treatment means she will be less likely to suffer permanent hoof damage, and less likely to have long term issues with lameness.
Lame cows move around less, and risk under-eating. They need to be rested and held close to the milking shed, but still need to be fed like a normal milking cow. If there isn’t enough pasture in the lame cow paddock, feeding out supplement will help them recover faster.
“When lame, feed quality and quantity must be increased, and her energy output reduced (e.g. drying her off), giving her every chance to increase her body condition score and stay in the herd,” Sue says. “Being lame once predisposes a cow to being lame again, so we can get into a negative cycle of having low body condition score, lame cows. We need to do everything in our power to stop lameness due to the long-term negative production, reproductive, and welfare impacts a single episode of lameness can have, otherwise, lame cows are far more likely to be culled.”
Other considerations are reducing time spent on concrete in addition to effective treatment including a block, and the use of non-steroidal treatment.
Finally, it’s also a good idea to have a formal review process to ensure treatment is successful such as assessing treated cows once a week to determine if the lameness is improved or resolved.
Contact your TSR or drop in to a Farm Source store to find out more.