Listen: The risk factors and preventing and controlling lameness

Dr. Neil Chesterton, a New Zealand vet who has been investigating risk factors for lameness since the 1980s, and Ger Cusack, practicing veterinary surgeon with Comeragh Veterinary in Waterford, join Stuart Childs on this week’s Dairy Edge podcast.

Ger, who is well known for his work on prevention and control of lameness, first explains the different levels of lameness, while Neil highlights the main issues on New Zealand farms and how they are quite similar to those we face here in Ireland.

They go on to discuss the importance of patience when moving stock and allowing the natural flow of cows into and out of the collecting yard and milking parlour, and how this influences the level of lameness in herds.

They also discuss the importance of managing farm roadways to maintain the surfaces in optimum condition to encourage cows to want to walk on it. Neil is a strong advocate of a soft transition from the main road surface to the concrete of the collecting yard. This should be used for 100-400 metres from the parlour yard entrance, depending on the herd size, to again encourage cows to walk on the surface but also to reduce the number of sole injuries associated with stones coming from the main surface to the concrete of the collecting yard.

Neil and Ger finish up by highlighting key things farmers can do to minimise lameness on their farms.

Listen in below:

More info is available on Neil Chesterton’s website

Read an article (PDF) from Animal Health Ireland by Ger Cusack here.

The Dairy Edge is a co-production with LastCastMedia.com. More episodes of the Dairy Edge podcast are available here.