Lameness is one of a few words that incessantly irritates the nerves of most Canadian dairy farmers. The highest lameness incidence usually occurs in early lactation. Besides the potential loss of milk, lame cows usually have poor reproduction performance and account for a big share of involuntary culling cases.
Foot problems were reported to contribute 88 percent of all lameness cases. Sole ulcers and white line lesions are the most common claw lesions on North American dairy farms.
Improving floor and bedding conditions and timely trimming is undoubtedly helpful to decrease lameness. However, recent research from Cornell University showed evidence that these claw lesions may have originally developed from the inside out.