title: Prevalence of lameness and associated risk factors in Canadian Holstein-Friesian cows housed in freestall barns.
abstract: Lameness is a severe welfare problem and a production-limiting disease in dairy farming. The objectives of this study were to determine prevalence of lameness and investigate cow- and herd-level factors associated with lameness in dairy cows housed in freestall barns in 3 Canadian provinces. A purposive sample of 40 Holstein-Friesian cows was selected from each of 141 dairy farms in Québec, Ontario, and Alberta. In total, 5,637 cows were scored once for lameness (presence of limping when walking). Data collected included information on individual cows (hock lesions, claw length, body condition score, parity, days in milk, and milk production), management practices (floor and stall cleaning routine, bedding routine, and footbath practices), and facility design (stall dimensions, stall base and bedding type, width of feed alley, flooring type, and slipperiness) hypothesized to be risk factors for lameness. Multilevel mixed logistic regression models were constructed (including farm as a random effect and province as a fixed effect). Herd-level lameness prevalence ranged from 0 to 69% (mean = 21%). Lameness prevalence increased with increasing parity; compared with first parity, cows in parity 2, 3, and ≥ 4 had 1.6, 3.3, and 4 times, respectively, higher odds of being lame. Furthermore, the odds of lameness were 1.6 times greater in cows with low body condition score (≤ 2.5) than in cows with a higher body condition score. In addition, injured hocks and overgrown claws were associated with 1.4- and 1.7-fold increased odds of being lame, respectively, whereas every 1 kg increase in daily milk production was associated with a 3% decrease in the odds of being lame. Lameness prevalence was higher in herds with ≤ 100 cows, but lower in barns with a sand or dirt stall base, or with bedding ≥ 2 cm deep. Cows exposed to very slippery floors had 2 times the odds of being lame compared with cows exposed to nonslippery floors. We attributed the wide range of lameness prevalence to the great variability in facilities and management practices among farms. Finally, we inferred that the prevalence of lameness could be decreased by improving management of multiparous, thin, or injured cows and by adopting management practices intended to improve cow comfort, namely the floor's slip resistance and the stall's lying surface.
authors.affiliation: Department of Production Animal Health, University of Calgary, Calgary, Alberta, Canada, T2N 4N1. Electronic address: lmsolano@ucalgary.ca.
authors.forename: L
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Solano
authors.affiliation: Department of Production Animal Health, University of Calgary, Calgary, Alberta, Canada, T2N 4N1.
authors.forename: H W
authors.initials: HW
authors.lastname: Barkema
authors.affiliation: Department of Production Animal Health, University of Calgary, Calgary, Alberta, Canada, T2N 4N1.
authors.forename: E A
authors.initials: EA
authors.lastname: Pajor
authors.affiliation: Department of Production Animal Health, University of Calgary, Calgary, Alberta, Canada, T2N 4N1.
authors.forename: S
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Mason
authors.affiliation: Department of Population Medicine, University of Guelph, Guelph, Ontario, Canada, N1G 2W1.
authors.forename: S J
authors.initials: SJ
authors.lastname: LeBlanc
authors.affiliation: Department of Population Medicine, University of Guelph, Guelph, Ontario, Canada, N1G 2W1.
authors.forename: J C
authors.initials: JC
authors.lastname: Zaffino Heyerhoff
authors.affiliation: Department of Population Medicine, University of Guelph, Guelph, Ontario, Canada, N1G 2W1.
authors.forename: C G R
authors.initials: CG
authors.lastname: Nash
authors.affiliation: Department of Population Medicine, University of Guelph, Guelph, Ontario, Canada, N1G 2W1.
authors.forename: D B
authors.initials: DB
authors.lastname: Haley
authors.affiliation: Organic Dairy Research Center, University of Guelph, Alfred, Ontario, Canada, K0B 1A0.
authors.forename: E
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Vasseur
authors.affiliation: Department of Animal Science, Université Laval, Québec, Québec, Canada, G1V 0A6.
authors.forename: D
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Pellerin
authors.affiliation: Dairy Education and Resource Centre, University of British Columbia, Agassiz, British Columbia, Canada, V0M 1A0.
authors.forename: J
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Rushen
authors.affiliation: Dairy Education and Resource Centre, University of British Columbia, Agassiz, British Columbia, Canada, V0M 1A0.
authors.forename: A M
authors.initials: AM
authors.lastname: de Passillé
authors.affiliation: Department of Production Animal Health, University of Calgary, Calgary, Alberta, Canada, T2N 4N1.
authors.forename: K
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Orsel
mesh_terms: D000416:Alberta / Q000453:epidemiology; D000818:Animals; D002170:Canada / Q000453:epidemiology; D002417:Cattle; D002418:Cattle Diseases / Q000453:epidemiology*; D003612:Dairying / Q000379:methods; D005160:Facility Design and Construction; D005260:Female; D005430:Floors and Floorcoverings; D005684:Gait; D006799:Housing, Animal; D007774:Lactation; D007794:Lameness, Animal / Q000453:epidemiology*; D008892:Milk; D009864:Ontario / Q000453:epidemiology; D011792:Quebec / Q000453:epidemiology; D012307:Risk Factors; D013643:Tarsus, Animal / Q000293:injuries
keywords: animal welfare; cow comfort; dairy cattle; locomotion; management