Evaluation of lameness in dairy cows and observations on associated pain perception and production potential

It has been observed from the one year of study in different organized dairy farms of hilly regions of Darjeeling district and Terai belt of Jalpaiguri district that incidence and prevalence of lameness vary greatly in herds within and between agro-climatic zones. Production performance varied significantly being more in Terai belt for all lame dairy cows and showed less effect of lameness on production in summer month compared with winter month for all the regions. It has been observed that strides of sound cows were faster, longer and shorter duration than the strides of lame cows irrespective of the regions.

Simple descriptive scale (SDS) score, postures, vocalization, visual analogue scale (VAS) score and eating and mental status were non-significant between the two regions. But activity at rest score mean in Terai belt is significantly higher than hilly areas.

Introduction

The importance of lameness in dairy cattle and its impact on production and animal welfare has been interestingly recognized in the last two decades (Kelton et al 1998, Rushen 2001) and is now considered one of the most urgent health problem as well as one of the most significant economic loses for the dairy industry (Whitaker et al 2000, Grohn et al 2003). Lameness can also result in reduced milk production (Warnick et al 2001, Green et al 2002, Nandi et al 2008), lower fertility (Colam-Ainsworth et al 1989) and involuntary culling of lactating dairy cattle (Whitaker et al 2000, Grohn et al 2003).

The major factors involved in the etiology of lameness are genetics, nutrition and environment, although various management factors and infection can be important. Much experimental work has concentrated in the role of nutrition in the etiology of lameness. Pain associated with lameness clearly decreases the welfare of cows (Whay et al 1997, 1998, O’Callaghan 2002). Pain likely influences both individual and social behavior of affected animals. For example, lame cows have reduced daily activity levels (O’Callaghan et al 2003), spending more time lying and less time feeding (Galindo and Broom 2002). Moreover, lame cows are less likely to start social interactions with other cows, although they are as likely to be subjected to aggressive behavior by other animals, as sound cows (Galindo and Broom 2002).

The aim of the present study was to describe the incidence and prevalence of lameness in dairy cattle in the hilly area of Darjeeling and terai belt of Jalpaiguri district of West Bengal as well as to detect gait attributes of lameness in dairy cattle that are due to pain along with etiopathogenesis for development of lameness. Unfortunately, to date there has been little work published on this issue.

Materials and methods

Farms

The study was carried out on 6 farms of Darjeeling (hilly area) and 8 farms of Jalpaiguri (Terai belt) district. The farms were selected purposively by one veterinary practitioner in each of the regions, who selected the farms without regard for the perceived amount of lameness. The criteria for selection were that the farmers were willing to cooperate for the period of study, to provide records and to allow access to the farms by members of the research team. The study began in December 2005 and data were collected from most of the farms between the one year study periods.

Study parameters

(1) Prevalence of lameness in dairy cows in relation to age, calving and lactation, genetics and conformation, animal behaviour and body weight.

(2) Effect of pain on production performance: weight average of healthy dairy cows for specific duration was evaluated in comparison with the weight average of lame milking cows of the same farm for the same duration.

(3) Evaluation of pain assessment using different scoring system as per the methods of Flower and Weary (2005) (Simple descriptive scale (SDS) score based on response to approach of the observer, visual analogue scale (VAS) score based on response to a back stroke, SDS score based on response to a back stroke and SDS score based on response to handling and palpation of the fore limbs).

(4) Managerial cause of lameness: housing (type of housing, condition of floor, footbaths and bedding materials), nutritional changes and managemental (maintenance of field and farm track, stockmanship, claw trimming and movement in grazing field.

(5) Evaluation of biomechanics of joints: biomechanics of the affected limb in lame cows were measured and compared with the normal population. Slide attributes such as stride length, height, duration were measured and compared with healthy population following the methods of Flower et al (2005).

Statistical analysis

Categorical variables were made quantitative by scoring. Mean with standard error for all variables under study and mean comparison results were made by student’s‘t’ test and were compared for two regions by Mann- Whitney U test. Factor analysis involving all quantitative and categorical variables was made following Varimax technique.

Results

Over the one year of study the incidence and prevalence of lameness in organized dairy farms of hilly regions of Darjeeling district and Tarai belt of Jalpaiguri district are given in Table 1.

It has been observed that incidence and prevalence of lameness vary greatly in herds within and between agroclimatic zones. The age group of animals for developing lameness varies between 3-10 years and during 1^st-7^th lactation. In addition to geographical variability, seasonal differences in incidence and prevalence of lameness in summer and in winter were also evident. The average time spent lying down was significantly more than standing in the majority of the observations (Table 1).

Majority of lame dairy cattle both in Darjeeling and Jalpaiguri district were kept in Pacca housing with concrete base and some were of earthen floor. The concrete floor appeared to slope from front to back. We observed that concrete rough based floor being abrasive with moisture due to accumulation of excreta favoured the development of lameness. No bedding materials either in the form of saw dust or chopped straw and/ or long straw were provided in floor of any farm. It was also been observed that there was no provision of foot bathing in the majority of the farms.

Production performance

Production performance varied significantly being more in terai belt for all lame dairy cows and showed less effect of lameness on production in summer month compared with winter month for all the regions (Figure 1).

Nutritional status

Nutritional status of organized dairy farms in Darjeeling district revealed that all the dairy animals reared under study area have been offered carbohydrate and concentrate without high dietary protein, balanced diet and moldy feed. Green fodder and roughage were provided in the majority of farms and not a single farm was provided with only straw as roughage for the dairy animals. Further, it was revealed that there was neither at all sudden change in ration nor being offered feed before calving under study. On the other hand, nutritional status of organized dairy farms of Jalpaiguri district revealed that all the animals received carbohydrate and high dietary protein in large meals without any moldy feed. Major diet consisted of concentrate and fodder with straw.

Managerial status

All the organized dairy farms of Jalpaiguri district maintained various forms of farms track. Some farms were having brick soiling, some having muddy soil and rarely hard soil. Hoof examination was not carried out in the majority of farms except in few cases where this was carried out in a regular basis. Claw trimming was not a regular practice in the majority of farms excepting in some farms it was carried out where hoof examination was done on a regular basis. Besides, most of the organized dairy animals were kept stall fed.

All the organized dairy farm of hilly region had brick soiling for farm track excepting in one farm which had muddy soil. Hoof examination was not carried out on regular basis in most of the organized farms. Claw trimming were also not undertaken in all the farms under study. Further, it was found that all the animals on organized dairy farms in the hilly regions were stall feed.

Biomechanical study

Slide attributes such as stride length, height, duration were measured following the methods of Flower et al (2005). It has been observed that strides of sound cows were faster, longer and shorter duration than the strides of lame cows (Table 2, Figure2-4).

Table 2. Findings of biomechanical studies in different seasons and agro-climatic zones
Category	Summer month				Winter month
Category	Healthy cows Terai belt	Healthy cows Hilly Region	Lame cows Terai belt	Lame cows Hilly Region	Healthy cows Terai belt	Healthy cows Hilly Region	Lame cows Terai belt	Lame cows Hilly Region
Stride length, cm (Mean ±SE)	132±0.22	137±0.21	122± 0.25	128± 0.34	134±0.43	132±0.33	125± 0.38	122± 0.42
Stride height, cm (Mean ±SE)	9.22±0.22	9.31± 0.20	8.15± 0.25	8.32± 0.22	9.11± 0.24	8.75± 0.34	8.31±0.42	7.26±0.33
Stride duration, seconds (Mean ±SE)	1.34±0.02	1.44± 0.03	1.58± 0.04	1.63± 0.02	1.22± 0.04	1.36± 0.03	1.75± 0.02	1.80± 0.01

Pain assessment

Simple descriptive scale (SDS) score, postures, vocalization, visual analogue scale (VAS) score, activity at rest and eating and mental status were presented in table (Table 3) in hilly region of Darjeeling district and terai belt of Jalpaiguri district.

Such means were compared by ‘t’ test. It was found that except activity at rest all other quantitative values have shown no significant difference between these two regions.

Statistical analysis

Means of categorical variables like house type, foot bathing, condition of floor, high dietary protein, balance diet, roughages, feeding before calving, maintenance of farm track, claw trimming etc. were compared for two regions by Mann- Whitney U test. From this test it was revealed that score due to floor condition and fodder were significant for their mean differences. Such significance were may be due to presence of floor condition with abrasive, moisture and roughness at hilly region and tendency of using more green fodder as roughages at terai region (Table 4).

Table 4. Mean with Standard Error for all variables under study and Mean comparison results
Farm	Hill		Terai		t	Sig.	Mann-Whitney U	Sig.
Farm	Mean	SE	Mean	SE	t	Sig.	Mann-Whitney U	Sig.
Lame animal (Summer)	13.4	2.28	21.5	3.44
Lame animal (Winter)	30.6	5.92	36.6	6.40
Lame animal summer (angular transformed)	21		26.5		-1.30	0.22
Lame animal Winter (angular transformed)	32.8		36		-0.50	0.62
Animal behaviour (Standing)	8.72	0.36	8.14	0.61	0.75	0.47
Animal behaviour (lying)	15.3	0.36	15.9	0.61	-0.75	0.47
Housing type	1.17	0.17	0.88	0.13			17.5	0.17
Floor condition	2.33	0.42	1.00	0.00			4.00	0.00
Foot bath	0.17	0.17	0.25	0.16			22.00	0.72
High protein diet	1.00	0.00	0.75	0.16			18.00	0.20
Balance diet	0.00	0.00	0.25	0.16			18.00	0.20
Roughages	1.17	0.17	1.88	0.13			7.00	0.01
Feeding before calving	0.00	0.00	0.13	0.13			21.00	0.39
Farm track condition	0.83	0.17	0.63	0.26			18.50	0.42
Stockmanship	0.17	0.17	0.25	0.16			22.00	0.72
Claw trimming	0.00	0.00	0.38	0.18			15.00	0.10
SDS	2.73	0.30	2.05	0.29	1.61	0.13
SDS (F and W method)	2.15	0.10	2.06	0.36	0.21	0.84
SDS back stroke	2.52	0.34	2.63	0.25	-0.28	0.78
SDS fore limb palpation	2.37	0.42	3.14	0.26	-1.65	0.12
Posture (Guarding)	1.14	0.07	1.05	0.27	0.28	0.78
Posture recumbency	0.32	0.15	0.69	0.16	-1.64	0.13
Vocalization	0.37	0.37	0.92	0.31	-1.15	0.27
Activity (Rest)	0.17	0.17	0.69	0.16	-2.20	0.05
Activity (Eating)	0.67	0.42	1.56	0.29	-1.81	0.10
VAS(Summer)	55.6	4.49	61.8	5.62	-0.82	0.43
VAS (Winter)	60.7	4.58	70	5.18	-1.29	0.22

Simple and rank correlation coefficient was calculated for all quantitative and categorical variables with percent lame variables for two regions together (Table 5).

Table 5. Correlation coefficients calculated by Pearson’s and Spearman’s methods
Variables	Simple		Rank
Variables	Lame animal (Summer)	Lame animal (Winter)	Lame animal summer (angular transformed)	Lame animal Winter (angular transformed)
Animal behaviour (Standing)	0.20	0.30	-0.02	0.23
Animal behaviour (lying)	-0.20	-0.30	0.02	-0.23
Housing type	-0.08	0.05	-0.17	0.12
Floor condition	-0.11	-0.12	-0.41	-0.25
Foot bath	-0.38	-0.37	-0.33	-0.28
High protein diet	-0.22	-0.21	-0.28	-0.10
Balance diet	0.19	0.06	0.23	0.03
Roughages	0.08	-0.33	0.36	-0.23
Feeding before calving	-0.69	-0.65	-0.45	-0.45
Farm track condition	-0.42	-0.29	-0.36	-0.11
Stockmanship	-0.32	-0.45	-0.20	-0.46
Claw trimming	-0.32	-0.40	-0.20	-0.35
SDS	-0.63	-0.57	-0.67	-0.53
SDS (F and W method)	-0.70	-0.68	-0.61	-0.69
SDS back stroke	-0.29	-0.18	-0.02	0.22
SDS fore limb palpation	-0.03	-0.43	0.23	-0.42
Posture (Guarding)	0.06	-0.09	-0.01	-0.05
Posture recumbency	-0.08	-0.10	0.08	-0.07
Vocalization	0.48	0.31	0.52	0.33
Activity (Rest)	0.06	-0.04	0.20	-0.04
Activity (Eating)	0.08	0.11	0.15	0.13
VAS(Summer)	-0.02	-0.19	-0.13	-0.25
VAS (Winter)	-0.03	-0.25	0.04	-0.25

It was found that feeding before calving is significantly negatively correlated with percent lame animal numbers. SDS scores methods were negatively significantly correlated with percent lame animals at both seasons. Such results were expected as because the present study showed that at terai region percent of lame animals in both the seasons were more with minimum SDS score where as maximum SDS score were found in hilly region although least percent of lame animals were observed. Factor analysis involving all quantitative and categorical variables following varimax technique under principle component analysis resulted seven factors explaining about 90% of total variation (Table 6) where first factor includes percent lame animals at both the season are in contrast with feeding before calving, hoof examinations, SDS score with high loadings.

Table 6. Rotated Component Matrix involving all observed variables under study
Variable	Component
Variable	1	2	3	4	5	6	7
Lame animal summer (angular transformed)	-0.91	-0.15	0.07	0.08	-0.07	0.08	0.05
Lame animal Winter (angular transformed)	-0.88	-0.18	-0.22	0.10	0.08	0.05	0.05
Animal behaviour (Standing)	-0.09	-0.95	-0.04	0.09	0.09	-0.20	0.03
Animal behaviour (lying)	0.09	0.95	0.04	-0.09	-0.09	0.20	-0.03
Housing type	0.01	0.08	0.21	-0.22	0.83	0.31	0.06
Floor condition	0.15	-0.08	-0.24	-0.12	0.82	0.06	-0.11
Foot bath	0.28	0.72	-0.02	0.49	0.12	-0.27	-0.11
High protein diet	0.13	0.28	0.54	-0.23	0.57	-0.37	0.02
Balance diet	-0.12	-0.08	0.35	0.06	-0.06	-0.03	0.86
Roughages	0.04	0.15	0.67	0.08	-0.59	-0.08	0.03
Feeding before calving	0.71	0.43	0.14	0.29	-0.11	0.29	-0.13
Farm track condition	0.30	0.77	-0.10	-0.09	0.33	0.04	-0.07
Stockmanship	0.53	0.10	0.35	0.15	0.28	0.50	0.37
Claw trimming	0.39	0.48	0.39	0.30	-0.21	-0.04	0.37
SDS	0.72	0.07	-0.15	-0.02	0.46	0.42	-0.09
SDS (F and W method)	0.84	-0.07	0.10	0.25	0.13	0.35	0.24
SDS back stroke	0.20	0.37	0.08	0.03	0.28	0.80	-0.01
SDS fore limb palpation	0.23	0.01	0.74	0.15	-0.01	0.44	0.09
Posture (Guarding)	-0.17	0.54	0.22	-0.40	-0.03	-0.32	-0.58
Posture recumbency	0.32	-0.51	0.08	0.41	-0.52	0.20	-0.12
Vocalization	-0.45	-0.04	0.51	0.55	0.21	-0.34	0.14
Activity (Rest)	0.08	-0.20	0.07	0.86	-0.25	0.19	0.14
Activity (Eating)	0.02	0.08	-0.12	0.88	-0.27	-0.03	0.07
VAS(Summer)	0.06	-0.08	0.94	-0.07	0.04	0.03	0.12
VAS (Winter)	0.05	0.08	0.95	-0.06	-0.08	0.00	0.13
Eigen value	4.63	4.42	4.33	3.10	3.09	2.18	1.59
% of Variance	17.8	17	16.7	11.9	11.9	8.40	6.10
Cumulative %	17.8	34.8	51.5	63.4	75.3	83.7	89.8

Such results showed that regular stockmanship were very much important to reduce the percent lame animals at both the seasons. Other factors with members’ variables were displayed in Table 4,5,6.

Discussion

The incidence and prevalence of lameness among adult dairy cattle derived from the study provide a basis for the epidemiology of lameness in the hilly and terai region of West Bengal. In other studies the estimates of incidence of lameness in Great Britain ranged from 5.5 to 65% (Ward 1994, Murray et al 1996, Whitaker et al 2000). However, similar to that reported by other workers (Clarkson et al 1996) where there was an uneven distribution between winter and summer (mean ± SE, 30.58 ± 5.92, 36.63±6.40 and 13.39 ± 2.28, 21.55 ± 3.44 respectively) in hilly and terai region. The major reason for the apparent reduction in the incidence of lameness in summer is probably that fewer visits were paid to the farms; as a result, the enthusiasm of some farmers waned. Besides, seasonal differences in incidence and prevalence may be due to differences in management of cattle during winter and summer (Murray et al 1996, Whitaker et al 2000).

Lying down is considered an important aspect of behaviour in dairy cows. Dairy animals should lie down for about 9-12 hours daily (Suss and Andreay 1984) in the present study the average period spent lying down during the two periods of observations was 15.28 and 15.86 hours which may have been due to fewer disturbances (Singh et al 1994) suggesting that they needed to alleviate pain and were in some discomfort.

In the present study, production performance varied significantly for all dairy cows irrespective of seasonal variation. Lameness resulting from sore hooves may discourage cows from standing and thus decrease feed intake, leading to lower feed intake (Greenough and Vermunt 1991). Another explanation might be that the lame cows appeared significantly more restless while being milked than the normal cows, presumably because they were in some discomfort (Hassall et al 1993).

Many studies have reported an association between housing and lameness (Arkins 1981, Baggott and Russell 1981). Housing on concrete has a more deleterious effect on claw health than housing on soft surfaces such as straw (Bazeley and Pinsent 1984). Bedding may play an important role in the prevention of claw lesions; it keeps the feet dry which has a positive effect on claw health (Brochart 1987). He found a higher incidence of lameness in cattle on concrete. An abrasive surface along with moisture predisposes cattle to sole lesions (Murphy and Hannan 1986). In the present study the lameness developed due to keeping the animals on concrete hard floor with moisture containing abrasive surface. Besides, lack of bedding appears to play a vital role to influence lameness. Foot baths are advocated for their disinfectant and astringent action (Baggott and Russell 1981). In the present study it was not a general practice on the majority of farms. Although, considering the multiplicity of factors involved, foot baths alone may not be able to prevent lameness in a herd (Sumner and Davies 1984).

Nutrition is considered to be an important factor involved in the initiation of laminitis (Nocek 1997). Increased feeding of fermentable carbohydrates has been implicated as a cause of laminitis in cattle (Nocek 1997, Thoefner et al 2004). In a series of studies a higher concentrates forage ratio (Manson and Leaver 1989), a higher total concentrate amount (Manson and Leaver 1989, Livesey et al 1998) all resulted in a higher lameness score than in control cows fed less intensive diets.

Proper maintenance of farm tracks and stockman’s practice play an important role in reducing the incidence of lameness (Chesterton 1989). Regular claw trimming especially before calving has been found to reduce lameness associated with laminitis when correctly performed (Manson and Leaver 1988). In the present study maintenance of farm tracks did not play vital role in lameness as mostly the animals were stall fed. Although, regular hoof examination and claw trimming were not carried during the study which may be a contributory factor for lameness.

Many tools exist to assess pain in human beings, and a few have been used in veterinary medicine. None are perfect, primarily because of the subjective and unmeasurable nature of pain even in people (Hamill-Ruth and Marohn 1999) and especially in veterinary patients because they can not communicate verbally. Currently, there does not seem to be suitable “tool” accurately. However, in the present study an attempt has been made to evaluate the pain perception in lame cows following method of Flower and Weary (2005). In lame cows, the pain not only originates from the actual site of the lesion located in the digit but also the tissues surrounding it which may become sensitized, making the use of part or the entire affected claw or foot uncomfortable for walking. When the central nervous system is sensitized by stimuli originating from digital lesion, the whole body becomes hypersensitive to a variety of stimuli which may accentuate the pain response. Therefore, lame cows experiencing pain in an affected foot may encounter other traumatic stimuli such as being pushed or barged by other cows, excessive goading by the stockman, walking on uneven sharp or slippery surfaces, all of which may produce an exaggerated pain response (Whay 1997); this behavior in lame cows may also occur in presence of non-traumatic stimuli such as milking or maneuvering in and out of cubicles. In the present study similar results were also found in lame dairy cows compared with healthy animals.

Acknowledgement

The authors are thankful to Dr. Lalkrishna, Assistant Director General, Indian Council of Agricultural Research for giving necessary permission to publish the data from ICAR ad-hoc project.

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Table 1. Prevalence of lameness in organized dairy farms of both the agro-climatic zones
Category	Average value of dairy farms of hilly region	Average value of dairy farms of Terai belt
No. of total animals	276	769
No. of lame animals in Summer Month	20	31
No. of lame animals in Winter Month	35	56
Age of lame animals, years	6.5	5.31
Bd. wt of lame animals, kg	259.33	272.5
Stage of lactation of lame animals	4.17	3.94
Genetics and conformation	Mostly Jersey Cow Few Holstein Friesian Cow	Mostly Jersey Cow Few Holstein Friesian and Sahiwal
Average Standing, hours	8.72	8.13
Average Lying, hours	15.28	15.87

Evaluation of lameness in dairy cows and observations on associated pain perception and production potential

S K Nandi, S Roy, P Mukherjee, A Goswami* and D Mazumdar**

Abstract

Introduction

Materials and methods

Farms

Study parameters

Statistical analysis

Results

Production performance

Nutritional status

Managerial status

Biomechanical study

Pain assessment

Statistical analysis

Discussion

Acknowledgement

References

Table 3. Pain perception and other responses by lame cows in organized dairy farms of both the agro-climatic zones
Category	Average score of dairy farms of hilly region	Average score of dairy farms of Terai belt
SDS Score	2.73	2.05
SDS Score by F and W, 05	2.15	2.06
SDS Score (Backstroke)	2.52	2.63
SDS Score (Fore limb palpation)	2.37	3.14
Activity at rest	0.17	0.69
Activity at eating	0.67	1.56
Guarding posture	0.97	0.91
Recumbency posture	0.32	0.69
Vocalization	0.37	0.92
VAS-score of Summer month	65.58	61.8
VAS-score of Winter month	60.75	69.98