News:
| Preventing Lameness |
The lameness prevention workshop was developed by the Scottish Agricultural College for First Milk Academy and is one of four modules on offer this year. We’ve now completed the first workshop and StraightTalk has spoken with both the SAC and one of the course attendees to find out more. The hidden cost of lameness is significantly higher than all of the farmers attending the first First Milk Academy lameness prevention workshops course estimated – and it is going-up all the time, according to Dr Dave Roberts, from the SAC, who ran the workshop along with SAC vet Colin Mason. “With the milk price and cost of replacements being what they are, any reduction in milk output or premature culling of animals quickly adds-up,” he says. “The farmers were all surprised at how much the losses were. They can easily come to over £100/cow with a lameness problem.” Calculating the cost of lameness is the starting point for the workshop, using “live” figures given by the participants, rather than arbitrary and out of date “text book” ones. Reducing that loss by making farmers more aware of the causes of lameness, how to prevent it and how to treat it are the main objectives. This is achieved by showing the participants actual cow’s feet and explaining the basic anatomy of a cow’s foot, by demonstrating how a cow walks, by showing how it can become lame, and by discussing what can be done about it. “Farmers show a lot of interest in this area. When they understand how the foot works they become a lot more aware of what they should and shouldn’t do,” said Dr Roberts. The workshop shows participants how to locomotion score, so that cows which are about to go lame can be identified and proactively given treatment before they actually do so. Although the course is not a foot trimming one a demonstration is given, with practical tips on how to do the job right. The importance of building design, cubicles, cow tracks and other physical aspects of the farm and their potential effect on lameness are also explored. But Dr Roberts is quick to emphasise that the course is no “back to school” lecture. “There is brilliant interaction between the participants and there is no doubt they will be taking away as many practical tips from each other as they will be from us. Each farmer will take away different aspects of the course and will apply them in the way that suits their farm best,” Dr Roberts added. When pressed on what his own key take-home recommendation are, Dr Roberts says farmers should ensure they: • Make time to look at cows feet before cows become lame; • Have good equipment to enable effective treatment, like a good crush and sharp knives; • Minimise the amount of slurry that comes into contact with cows feet; • Make sure that if they are footbathing cows they do it effectively, with the right strength of solutions; • Make sure they know how best to treat cow’s feet. In other words, by booking themselves down for the next FMA lameness course! First Milk Academy can run lameness prevention workshops anywhere in the country providing we have the right numbers of participants. Contact your Area Manager if you are interested in attending. |