Foot disorders, claw health, farm economics and animal welfare

Lameness, cow welfare and

sustainable farming

Henk Hogeveen

together with

Mariëlle Bruijnis and Elsbeth Stassen

�Literally: The capacity to endure

�For dairy farming: Care for:� Environment

� Cow welfare

� --------

�But also � Social responsibility

� and decent profit

Sustainable farming

�Important for welfare

�Associated with economic losses

�Prevalence 80% (!!!)

�No reduction of incidence and prevalence

� Farmers don’t put measures into action� Underestimation of problem

Claw health

In this presentation…..

� Introduce different foot disorders

� Model to simulate foot disorders in a dairy herd

� Economic consequences of different foot

disorders

� Welfare consequences of different foot disorders

� Conclusion

A healthy claw

Different foot disorders

Sole haemorrhages

and

White line disease

Interdigital dermatitis/

heel horn erosion

Sole ulcer

Interdigital hyperplasia

(corns, tyloma)Digital dermatitis

(Mortellaro’s disease) Interdigital phlegmon

Simulation model

PCUL

PSC

PCHPHCPHSPSH

No foot disorder, healthy (H)

Clinical foot disorder

(C)

Subclinical foot disorder

(S)

Culled(Cul)

Modelling assumptions

� Assumptions (Dutch circumstances):

� cubicle housing

� concrete floor

� pasturing

� two foot trimming interventions/year

� 7 different foot disorders

Simulated prevalence

0.00%

5.00%

10.00%

15.00%

20.00%

25.00%

30.00%

35.00%

IPS

UL

So

HID

HE

DD

HY

PW

LD IP

SU

LS

oH

IDH

ED

DH

YP

WL

D IPS

UL

So

HID

HE

DD

HY

PW

LD IP

SU

LS

oH

IDH

ED

DH

YP

WL

D IPS

UL

So

HID

HE

DD

HY

PW

LD IP

SU

LS

oH

IDH

ED

DH

YP

WL

D IPS

UL

So

HID

HE

DD

HY

PW

LD IP

SU

LS

oH

IDH

ED

DH

YP

WL

D IPS

UL

So

HID

HE

DD

HY

PW

LD IP

SU

LS

oH

IDH

ED

DH

YP

WL

D IPS

UL

So

HID

HE

DD

HY

PW

LD IP

SU

LS

oH

IDH

ED

DH

YP

WL

D

C =15 C = 17 C = 18 C = 11 C = 11 C = 12 C = 12 C = 13 C = 14 C = 11 C = 12 C = 13

SC = 52 SC = 57 SC = 62 SC = 33 SC = 37 SC = 41 SC = 45 SC = 48 SC = 51 SC = 32 SC = 41 SC = 49

January February March April May June July August September October November December

Prev

ale

nce, %

Clinical

Subclinical

Add consequences to simulation model

PCUL

PSC

PCHPHCPHSPSH

No foot disorder, healthy (H)

Clinical foot disorder

(C)

Subclinical foot disorder

(S)

Economic consequences:- Milk production losses- Prolonged calving interval- Labor dairy farmer- Costs foot trimmer- Costs veterinarian- Treatment- Discarded milk

- Welfare impact: - Estimated pain

Economic consequences: - Milk production losses- Prolonged calving interval

- Welfare impact: - Estimated pain

Economic consequence:- RPO-value

Culled(Cul)

Economic effects

Total costs (default input, The Netherlands)

Per farm (65 cows) : €3,474 per year (€2,282 to €4,965)

Per cow : €53 per cow/year

� Costs of subclinical foot disorders: 32%

� Average clinical foot disorder: €67/case

� Average subclinical foot disorder: €13/case

� Digital dermatitis gave highest costs

(high incidence, high clinical prevalence)

Cost components

Milk production losses

Prolonged calving

interval

Labour of the dairy

farmer

Discarded milk

TreatmentVisit of veterinarian

Visit of foot trimmer

Culling

Modelling welfare impact

Foot disorder

Physical abilities, health

Behavioural abilities and needs

Functioning Feelings Natural living

Affective state, frustration

Pain

Welfare aspects bases on Fraser et al. 1997

Further steps

� Pain estimation

� Based on locomotion score and pathophysiology

� Using literature and expertise

� Calculation welfare impact

� Herd level (including incidence)

� Cow level (per case of foot disorder)

� Weighing pain and duration

� Questionnaire among experts

Weighing pain and duration� Experts:

� Pain 0.65 and Duration 0.35, st dev: 0.20

� Varying opinions on relative importance

� Pain more important than durationDuration

1 2 3 4 5

1 12.1 21.7 35.7 43.9 50.7

2 26.4 42.4 53.6 61.4 63.6

Pain 3 45.0 56.4 70.0 76.4 80.0

4 62.1 75.7 85.7 89.9 92.9

5 82.9 88.6 94.3 96.4 98.6

Estimated welfare impact per case

Subclinical

Clinical

0.00

0.02

0.04

0.06

0.08

0.10

IP IDHE DD SoH WLD SUL HYP

Re

lative im

pa

ct

Impact foot disorders at herd level

0%

5%

10%

15%

20%

25%

30%

35%

IP

IDH

E

DD

SoH

WLD

SUL

HYP

Re

lati

ve

im

pa

ct

welfare, subclinicalcosts, subclinical

costs, clinical welfare, clinical

Welfare vs economics

IP

IDHE

DD

SoH

SULIDHE

DD

SoH

WLD

WLDHYP

HYP

0.0

0.5

1.0

1.5

2.0

2.5

3.0

0.0 2.0 4.0 6.0 8.0 10.0 12.0 14.0 16.0

average cost per cow (€/yr)

avera

ge w

elf

are

im

pact

per

co

w

Concluding remarks

� Subclinical foot disorders have substantial impact

� Indirect cost factors (e.g. milk production losses, culling) high

� Likely to cause underestimation of problem

� Costs due to foot disorders are substantial: € 53 per cow/year (mastitis: € 78 per cow/year)

� Increase dairy farmer awareness and stimulate action

� Costs and welfare consequences correlated

� Welfare improvement more likely

Finally

� Welfare improvement touches loss reduction

� What about “welfare” of culled cows?

� Improving dairy cow foot health� Improves sustainability

� What are the effects of prevention (vs costs)?

� Co-ordinated approach towards farmers

Thank you

for your

attention!