Hoof Clips Newsletter
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Discover how one farmer significantly reduced lameness in their herd and how you can too.
When I’m at tradeshows and on-field calls, I often get questions about using our prime product, Hoof Sol Bath. As a hoof trimmer by trade, I want to be fair to farmers by not just delivering a drum of product and hoping for the best—so today, I will assist you with the math and mindset to solving the lameness challenges you might have.
I have seen it so often – the farmer bought a ‘miracle’ product that was ‘sold’ to him as a ‘magic bullet’, and that disappointment sets in very quickly. (Forget about the safety of this product for you and your family—danger labels all over it, no clue if I survive without scars.)
I’m excited to share a story that may offer fresh insight into your battle against lameness, mainly digital dermatitis—a well-known and costly headache.
A Tale of Struggle and Triumph
Some years back, our local farmer Josh—who manages a respectable herd of 135 milking cows—found himself struggling with a high rate of lameness, according to Josh, over 70% Digital Dermatitis (hairy warts). Like many farms, Josh had tried almost everything—all kinds of foot bath products: formaldehyde and copper sulfate. He was eager to give our Hoof Sol Bath product a shot, hearing positive things about its effectiveness.
“Koos, can you drop off one drum of foot bath product? I heard many good things about it and want to give it a shot, too.”
In my response, I focused on understanding the scope of the problem and developing an approach that would lead to success. I would like to share this with you in Hoof Clips.
Get to Know the Scope of Your Problems
An important step is to identify which cows are lame. With the help of his milkers, Josh made a list of all cows showing signs of lameness or suffering from digital dermatitis. They marked the cows as, for example, cow #25 – RR (right rear leg). This helpful exercise led to a revised lameness estimate—63%, a drop of over 7% without using any products, just by identifying those who needed assistance.
This exercise also helped Josh and his team to see that the problem was less widespread than they had initially thought. They could focus their efforts on a smaller number of cows, making it easier for them to manage the situation.
Define Success with Realistic Goals
Once we knew which cows were affected, Josh suggested that he would be very happy if a month of foot bathing cut the lameness number in half—that would still leave us with 32% lame cows, but it’s better than 63%. I pushed the envelope further and suggested we aim to go well below national averages by lowering our goal rate to 20%.
(remember that 20% of lame cows in this herd are still 27 cows. My intent in talking with Josh and this percentage was to develop a plan for dealing with the problem—one that could be measured).
Plan and Execute
Of course, targets alone are not enough. An effective strategy involves good planning. Therefore, my question to Josh was, “what will you do with the remaining 20% lame cows a month from now?” He replied, “I probably will get the hoof trimmer in or cull the cows.” A clear answer from someone who doesn’t know where to turn. Any improvement in the situation is already perceived as a solution to the entire problem, even if it’s only temporary or partial.
The mindset of using a prevention method, like the foot bath, to tackle the lameness problem is a long and unpredictable road. If any success is scored, it is often delayed and impossible or challenging to measure.
Act Today
There we were. Josh had a list of cows and was waiting for a plan to get that number down. My advice to him was this: deal with the lame cows you have today—block them, treat them, wrap them, cull them—whatever needs to be done as soon as possible. And after that initial treatment step, go into prevention mode.
We have some great products for the treatment sessions—we offer Hoof-fit Gel to treat Digital Dermatitis and Intra Tape or Eco Tape to increase the contact time. That week, Josh got a local professional hoof trimmer, handling his entire herd.
Based on my experience as a professional hoof trimmer, I advocate starting any approach with individual care first and then moving on to prevention.
The initial protocol took only ten days, and after that, we started with the intense prevention plan—I say intense because of the severity of the problem in Josh’s herd. He began using Hoof Sol Spray for two milking per week and two days per week Hoof Sol Bath in the foot bath.
After one month, the frequency of Hoof Sol Spray and Hoof Sol Bath was lowered to once per week. Any lame cow continued to be checked in the on-farm chute.
Sharing Success
About five months later, I was at our local tradeshow in Lethbridge, Alberta, and Josh stopped by my booth. My first question was: how is it going with the herd? He was very excited—” We just trimmed the herd again, and we had only three wraps!”
Take Your Steps to Target Success Today
Josh’s story is not unique—I’ve seen many like it. I believe this approach can work for anyone with the dedication and perseverance to see it through. Our target for any herd is lameness below 5% at any given time.
If you have any questions about the mentioned protocol and how it could work in your herd, please don’t hesitate to contact me. Let’s work together to promote the health and productivity of your herd!
Yours in hoof care,
Koos
PS. We have a great Starter Package Promotion for our Canadian farmers, which includes all hoof care essentials (while supplies last).
