Figure 1. The AHDB Mobility Scoring System (https://ahdb.org.uk/knowledge-library/dairy-mobility-scoresheet).

Early detection and prompt effective treatment of lameness in dairy cattle

Despite the well documented economic and welfare impacts of lameness, one of the fundamental difficulties continues to be how the farm team define and recognise the behavioural changes associated with...

Figure 2. Mobility scoring is not required to find mobility score 3 cows, such as this one which is obviously lame in her back left foot (reluctance to bear weight). However, this herd had an overall lameness prevalence of 28%, predominantly mobility score 2, and this could only be ascertained by carefully observing all of the cows walking on a firm surface.

Perceptions of lameness in dairy herds

Around 30–32% of all adult dairy cows are lame at any one time (Atkinson and Fisher, 2013; Griffiths et al, 2018; Randall et al, 2019). That equates to 560 000 cows in GB being lame and therefore in...