Can digital dermatitis be detected in the milking parlor without washing cows' feet?

Victor H S Oliveira; Jan T Sørensen; Peter T Thomsen

doi:10.1016/j.rvsc.2017.06.017

Can digital dermatitis be detected in the milking parlor without washing cows' feet?

Res Vet Sci. 2017 Dec:115:325-326. doi: 10.1016/j.rvsc.2017.06.017. Epub 2017 Jun 27.

Authors

Victor H S Oliveira¹, Jan T Sørensen², Peter T Thomsen²

Affiliations

¹ Department of Animal Science, Aarhus University, Blichers Allé 20, PO, box 50, 8830 Tjele, Denmark. Electronic address: victor.oliveira@anis.au.dk.
² Department of Animal Science, Aarhus University, Blichers Allé 20, PO, box 50, 8830 Tjele, Denmark.

PMID: 28668734
DOI: 10.1016/j.rvsc.2017.06.017

Abstract

Scoring digital dermatitis (DD) in the milking parlor after washing the hind feet of cows has been recommended. However, farmers might be reluctant to perform this washing due to compromised udder hygiene. The objective of this study was to evaluate if DD prevalence can be determined without the washing procedure. A total of 4510 cows from 22 dairy herds were scored for DD in the milking parlor without and with washing their hind feet. In all DD infected herds, DD prevalence was higher when scored with washing. The two methods were highly correlated (r=0.987, P<0.001). Scoring with washing resulted in a median of 32% more detected DD cases with a large variation between herds. Overall, DD measurements without washing the feet of cows should be interpreted with caution.

Keywords: Dairy cow; Diagnosis; Digital dermatitis; Hoof disorder; Milking parlor.

MeSH terms

Animals
Cattle
Cattle Diseases / diagnosis
Cattle Diseases / epidemiology*
Dairying / methods*
Denmark / epidemiology
Digital Dermatitis / diagnosis
Digital Dermatitis / epidemiology*
Female
Foot Diseases / diagnosis
Foot Diseases / epidemiology
Foot Diseases / veterinary*
Hoof and Claw / pathology
Hygiene*
Mammary Glands, Animal
Prevalence