Mobility Scoring of Finished Cattle

Vet Clin North Am Food Anim Pract. 2017 Jul;33(2):235-250. doi: 10.1016/j.cvfa.2017.02.006.

Abstract

Lameness is among the most important welfare and production issues affecting dairy cattle. Recently, it has received significant research emphasis. Certain events in 2013 within the cattle industry heightened the focus on mobility issues in finished cattle. Scoring systems are needed in the finished cattle industry to capture and measure mobility issues at packing facilities. The North American Meat Institute Animal Welfare Committee helped facilitate the creation of a scoring system to evaluate mobility of cattle at packing plants, providing the cattle industry with a tool to benchmark and improve the welfare of finished cattle.

Keywords: Cattle; Fatigued cattle syndrome; Lameness; Mobility; Scoring system.

Publication types

  • Review

MeSH terms

  • Animal Husbandry*
  • Animal Welfare*
  • Animals
  • Cattle
  • Cattle Diseases* / economics
  • Cattle Diseases* / etiology
  • Cattle Diseases* / physiopathology
  • Dairying
  • Female
  • Gait*
  • Lameness, Animal* / economics
  • Lameness, Animal* / etiology
  • Lameness, Animal* / physiopathology