Noel Byrne was the first speaker at the workshop on lameness in Greenfield and he brought the 40 farmers in attendance out to a field near the yard where there were about 10 cows separated from the main herd. These cows were picked out during locomotion-scoring the previous evening.

Locomotion-scoring is where you give a cow a score, based on how good she is walking. Noel explained that cows are scored between zero and three, with zero being perfect, while three is severely lame. The main purpose of locomotion-scoring is to identify and treat cows at the one and two stage before they become a three.

Two-person job

“Everybody knows a three – she is severely lame and needs treatment as soon as possible. But the purpose of locomotion-scoring is to identify the cows before they become obviously lame. The best place to do it is as the cows walk back to the paddock at their own pace. It’s a job that will take at least two people though, as you need to record the tag numbers and write down their score,” Noel said.

The difference between a zero and one is subtle. Noel said that a cow with a locomotion score of one doesn’t need treatment but her number should be recorded and she should be monitored.

Noel said that cows with a locomotion score of two should be seen to by a trained hoof parer. He said that the most likely cause of lameness among Irish herds is mechanical, so either bruising or ulcers caused by hurts/stones or drops caused by white line disease. This is when stones and pebbles penetrate the white line between the sole and hoof wall.

Demo

Local hoof parer Eamon McGarry demonstrated hoof paring a cow with a drop. Riona Sayers outlined the anatomy of a hoof, and showed how a drop or an abscess is formed and why early treatment is essential.

Abigail Ryan spoke about roadways and the effect they can have on lameness. There was a big issue with lameness in the Greenfield farm this year, with 15 of the 330 cows scored at locomotion score three in August. Cows with locomotion score two and three were hoof-pared. They locomotion-scored the whole herd this week and only five cows were at locomotion score two and three.

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