The effect of limited outdoor access frequencies on gait score, hoof lesions and hoof surface temperature of non-clinically lame cows housed in a movement-restricted environment.
Authors: S. Mokhtarnazif and E. Shepley and A. Nejati and G. M. Dallago and E. Vasseur
Date: 2023-06-01
Status: Published
Providing outdoor access is beneficial to the welfare of cows housed in restricted movement environments, but its daily implementation is challenging. The study objective was to evaluate the effect of low outdoor access frequency on gait and hoof health of non-clinically lame cows. Thirty-six lactating, tie-stall housed Holstein cows were blocked by parity and days in milk (6 blocks) and provided 1h of outdoor access in 2 treatments (1 d/wk or 3 d/wk) for 5 weeks (Nov-Dec 2022). Data were collected before (pre-trial), after (post-trial) and 8 weeks after (follow-up) outdoor provision. We assessed gait score using a 5-point visual scoring system and clinical claw lesion incidence in the trimming chute. For subclinical signs of lesions, the average hoof and claw surface temperatures were measured from the dorsal view of the coronary bands using an infrared thermography camera. Data were analyzed using mixed effect models with block, period, treatment, and the period × treatment interaction as fixed effects (α < 0.05), and either cow or claw nested within cow as random effect. The ambient and cow’s eye maximum temperature were added as covariates for analyzing thermography data. Average gait scores at pre-trial, post-trial, and follow-up were 2.13 ± 0.55, 1.98 ± 0.61 and 2.02 ± 0.51, respectively. Only non-severe lesions (sole