Why are Cows So Prone to Hoof Disease? How to Prevent?

Cow hoof disease is a common disease affecting the health and production performance of cows. It is reported that the incidence of hoof disease in Chinese dairy cows is more than 30%, especially in hot summer areas. Why are cows so prone to hoof disease? What causes it? How to prevent hoof disease? Take a look down below to find out

Causes of hoof disease in dairy cows

1. Nutritional factors

• Improper or insufficient ratio of calcium and phosphorus. Improper calcium phosphorus ratio is easy to cause metabolic disorders, lead to hoof disease. Zinc deficiency in cows can affect the keratinization of hoof and cause hoof disease.

  
  

• The grain structure is not reasonable. If the ratio of concentrate to coarse is not proper, too much concentrate will lead to excessive intake of carbohydrates in dairy cows, produce too much lactic acid in the rumen, and cause acidosis of dairy cows leading to hoof disease.

2. Environmental factors

• Feeding management. The playground is too small, there is not enough space for exercise; Poor enclosure environment, wet, so that the hoof cuticle anti-infection ability decreased, increase the incidence of hoof deformation and bacterial laminitis. Sports ground hard, uneven, stone, cement ground, are easy to cause cow hoof injury or contusion. If the feces on the ground can not be cleaned up in time, to bacteria reproduction makes a good opportunity, easy to cause hoof infection, hoof rot disease.

  
  

• Seasonal factors. Summer weather is hot and rainy, cow stress is relatively big, resistance decline. Cows hoof in sewage soak for a long time, the cuticle becomes soft, increase the infection rate of bacteria, prone to hoof disease.

3. Genetic factors

• Research has found that the hoof shape of dairy cows has a certain hereditary, poor hoof shape dairy cattle offspring prone to hoof deformation

4. Other factors

• Ketosis, mastitis and obstetric diseases can cause hoof disease. Hoof disease may be induced by hoof malformation, hoof malformation, long-term loading, stress, increased parity and infection caused by trauma in high-yielding cows.

Integrated control measures

1. Pay attention to a healthy environment

Keep the ground dry, clean and smooth, remove feces and sewage in time.

2. Balanced nutrition

The proportion of refined and coarse diet should be balanced properly to supply high quality coarse grain, but also need to supply appropriate trace element factors and appropriate vitamins.

3. Trim your hooves regularly

Repair hoof regularly, keep hoof flat, prevent hoof horn too long. Trim the hoof and look for any problems.

4. Prompt treatment

After the occurrence of hoof disease, first use water and brown brush, hoof knife to remove hoof dirt, thoroughly clean hoof. Then, the hoof should be trimmed and the lesion fully exposed before the treatment is implemented. Timely treatment of ketosis, mastitis, obstetric diseases and other diseases that can induce hoof disease.

5. Breeding measures

Hoof disease has a certain relationship with heredity, hoof disease heritability range is larger, hoof shape is also related to heredity. Therefore, the breeding selection should choose the bulls with good feet and hoof disease.

6. Hoof bath

As one of the effective measures for the prevention and control of hoof disease, the effectiveness of hoof bath is directly related to the value created for the pasture during the whole lactation period of cows. One of the main purposes of hoof bath is to prevent and control infectious hoof diseases, including wart dermatitis, interdigit (toe) dermatitis, hoof rot (hoof cellulitis) and so on. Infectious hoof disease can be prevented and treated by hoof bath, its main characteristics are simple, rapid and effective. Hoof bath is mainly through cleaning and disinfecting the hoof of cattle, has a therapeutic effect on early verrucous dermatitis, heel dermatitis, for late verrucous dermatitis has a recurrence control effect; Hoof bath can also effectively reduce the incidence of interdigital (toe) dermatitis and hoof rot (hoof cellulitis).

The features of the terrui footbath

• Powerful medicated bath soak cow hoof and root, deep cleaning cow hoof complex gap;

  
  

• Cows can slowly pass through the channel to ensure the deep cleaning and penetration treatment of cattle hoof;

  
  

• Filter solid dirt, reservoir continuously add new liquid medicine to storage tank, ensure the treatment effect of all cattle from head to tail;

  
  

• No manual operation;
  

• Environmental protection without waste, make full use of disinfectants or medicated bath liquid;

The use of terryhoof baths

• The depth of the liquid should be 10 to 15 centimeters, so that it can cover the whole hoof of the cow.

  
  

• Hoof bath as level as possible. The basin surface should have a certain amount of anti-slip force (the hoof can grasp firmly), but the surface should not be too rough to avoid causing injury to the hoof.

  
  

• Research support for the value of pre-bath is very limited, but the following aspects for your reference:

1. Consider filling the front tub and hoof tub with medicated bath solution to promote full soaking of the hoof.

2. If there are different medicated bath liquid in the front bath and the hoof bath, the space between them should be 1.8~2.4 meters to avoid diluting or reducing the efficacy of the medicated bath liquid in the front bath.

3. Consider soaking the front tub (if used) and hoof tub in mild, soapy water of 1% for the few days that the bath is not filled with liquid medicine.