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- Title
Prevalence and Severity of Lameness in Dairy Cows Housed in Free-stall Barns from Transylvania.
- Authors
Popescu, Silvana; Borda, Cristin; El Mahdy, Cristina; Diugan, Eva Andrea
- Abstract
The objectives of this study were to estimate the prevalence of lameness and determine locomotion score distribution in dairy cows housed in free-stalls. The study was realized in 24 selected free-stall farms in Transylvania. Lameness was assessed based on the locomotion score devised by Sprecher et al. The percentage of cows with different locomotion scores was established. The lameness prevalence was calculated as the proportion of cows with locomotion score 3 or more. The results were statistically processed using the SPSS software. Of the 2519 cows assessed, normal locomotion was found in 27.04% in winter (24.69% in summer), slight lameness in 40.69% (45.30% in summer), moderate lameness in 27.87% (25.96% in summer), lameness in 3.33% (2.82% in summer) and severe lameness in 1.07% (1.23% in summer). The prevalence of lameness in the investigated barns varied between 5% and 49.35% with a mean prevalence of 31.04% in winter (28.54% in summer). Although the value obtained in the warm season is lower, the difference between the two seasons was insignificant (P > 0.05). The obtained results show that in both seasons more than 70% of the assessed cows presented locomotion problems, the severity of lameness varying among the investigated farms.
- Subjects
LAMENESS in cattle; CATTLE locomotion; DAIRY cattle; COWS; CATTLE diseases
- Publication
Scientific Papers: Animal Science & Biotechnologies / Lucrari Stiintifice: Zootehnie si Biotehnologii, 2013, Vol 46, Issue 1, p226
- ISSN
1841-9364
- Publication type
Article