Lameness and foot lesions in Swiss dairy cows: I. Prevalence

Prevalences of foot lesions and lameness were recorded in 1449 Swiss dairy cows during routine claw-trimming on 78 farms from June 2010 until February 2011. Lameness was present in 14.8% of cows and on 80.8% of investigated farms. Highest prevalences were seen for widened white line (80.7%/100%), signalling foot lesion (65.6%/98.7%), heel-horn erosion (34.2%/88.5%), digital dermatitis complex (29.1%/73.1%), severe hemorrhages (27.9%/87.2%), and Rusterholz' sole ulcers (11.5%/74.4%) at cow and herd level, respectively. Lower prevalences were found for subclinical laminitis (5.4%/47.4%), chronic laminitis (3.3%/25.6%), white line disease (4.7%/42.3%), double soles (2.6%/33.3%), interdigital hyperplasia (3.1%/33.3%), sole ulcers (0.4%/6.4%), toe infections caused by faulty claw-trimming (3.9%139.7%) and by injury (0.1%12.6%), deep lacerations (0.4%/6.4%), and interdigital phlegmona (0.1%/1.3%). Lameness and foot lesions were shown to represent important health problems of dairy cows under the conditions of the typical grass-based production system in Switzerland. Digital dermatitis has developed to the most relevant foot disease with a high impact on welfare of Swiss dairy cows within the past 10 years.