Hoof Health: Managing Cow Comfort to Reduce Lameness

A cow’s foot is a unique appendage that has a specific anatomical structure related to a specific function: locomotion. The way in which these structures are organized and/or disorganized can be a barometer to many management practices that either have an internal or external affect on the foot structure. Because of the risks of adverse environmental conditions for several months of the year, confined housing has become a necessary component of properly managing high-producing dairy cows: that means stalls and concrete. Usually there are 10-30% more cows than stalls, and their ability to maximize dry matter is associated with their drive to find limited available bunk space. Offering cows the comfort of their natural habitat without predators and ad libitum access to high quality feed are critical to maximizing profitability. The objective of this paper is to: