During the summer, cows face additional challenges due to heat stress and can become stuck in a negative cycle of lameness and ultimately decreased productivity.

Lameness is a costly issue for dairy farms, with an average prevalence of 25% of dairy cows on U.S. dairies experiencing lameness. Much of these costs are associated with milk loss and can add up to $200 to $500 per case. 

For some time now, producers have known that lameness causes major loss in the dairy industry, including both economic injury and a decline in animal health and well-being. 

The U.S. has high-quality data pipelines for the flow of production, fertility and health records, but there is not currently a pipeline of hoof health information. As an essential first step, CDCB, the University of Minnesota (UMN) and several collaborators are working to consistently identify and record hoof health traits.

At any given time, 25% of dairy cows in the U.S. are lame, and more than that experience lameness at some point throughout their lactation, according to Dr. Jennifer Walker, DVM.