Marcia Endres, dairy specialist at the University of Minnesota, acknowledges lameness will never fully be eliminated from dairy herds, but producers need to be proactive to reduce its incidence. Review this article and discuss it with producers during on-farm calls or planning meetings. Studies referenced show dairy farmers only identify about 25 percent of lameness.
Source: Dairy Herd Management, January 2017, page 20.
Research studies in both North America and Europe indicate there is a 21% to 55% prevalence of lameness on dairy farms. All these studies used locomotion scoring and the most severe cases occurred 5% to 15% of the time.