herD sYstems
prepare cows’ feet
for summer heat
summer heat means extra standing. overgrown and imbalanced claws are a recipe Increased standing causes more
a may or June maintenance trim is for trouble. If hoofs are properly trimmed problems. Confinement housing does
critical to hoof health. and balanced before the high temperatures a poor job of replicating the cow’s natural
arrive, cows are better equipped to handle the environment. For example, grazing cows
By Karl Burgi increased standing. either lie down or are moving while eating,
which naturally keeps cows healthy. Contrast
Lameness peaks approximately that with a modern facility. We put cows on
as temperatures rise in spring two months after temperatures peak. Observa- an unyielding surface of abrasive or slippery
it’s common to ready fans, sprinklers and tion shows the quality of hoof horn cows concrete and force them to stand while eating.
water tanks for the hot, sticky days of sum- produce when suffering from heat stress is Heat stress only makes this worse.
mer. But have you prepared cows’ feet for significantly compromised, causing lesions to
heat stress? develop. In 2003, university of wisconsin
Hooves suffer during summer heat because Sporadic eating, another reaction to heat veterinary researcher Dr. Nigel Cook used
cows often cool themselves by standing. stress, also causes lameness. Cows make video recordings to monitor cow behavior in
More time standing equals more stress on fewer trips to the feed bunk, avoiding eating confinement barns. When he analyzed cows’
their feet. Once the heat arrives, you have during the hottest parts of the day. Cows lying and standing times from June through
already missed the opportunity to prepare feet thrive on rations that are mixed, delivered September, he found standing in alleys
to handle summer. and consumed consistently. Even one day of and stalls increased in the heat of summer,
Be more aggressive in May and June with irregular consumption may disrupt rumen sometimes up to three hours a day. (Figure
your maintenance hoof-trimming efforts to health, which interferes with horn production 1 shows that horn lesions peak about two
prepare cows for stressful periods. Long, and contributes to hoof lesions. months after average temperature peaks.)
Similarly, a 1994 study by Dr. Jan Cermak,
HealMax Spray
AgroChem, makers of HoofMax, introduces:
United Kingdom, found cows lying 14 hours
a day compared to eight hours per day have
four times fewer hoof lesions.
Cook compared the cows’ videos with
HealMax
production and health records and calculated
with
the following ideal daily time budget:
technology
Hairy
Spray provides a targeted way of dealing
need
HealMax
Heel Warts.
Spray
Using
is used
completely
whenever
new
you
n 4.5 hours eating (9-14 meals per day)
Warts.
to quickly stop the progression of Hairy
n 12 hours lying/resting
n 3 hours milking
16 cents per wart.
Costs as little as
n 2.5 hours socializing in alleys
n 2 hours standing in a stall (including
perching)
1 - This painf
contageous hairy wart is one
ul and highly
HEALMAX
2
o
later
- The same wart four days
any additional steps to reduce
modern dairy cows.
f the most costly problems in
formed
has stopped oozing,
scab,
longer in pai
and
a tough
the
water proof
n.
animal is no
standing time will reduce lameness issues.
Cows are picky about their stall surface,
Using a po
HealMax is both inexpensive
werful spray like
preferring soft, flexible beds, similar to a
and highlyeffective.
pasture. Cows in sand-bedded stalls lie down
12% more than cows in mattress-bedded
Cidec Corporation:
stalls, Cook determined in a 2001 video trial.
Fisher & Thompson: Leola, P
Auburn, NY (315) 252-9270 Additional research showed lameness rates
Bob’
Ederer Dairy Supply: Plain, WI
s Dairy Supply: Dorchester
A

, WI (715) 654-5252
(717) 656-3307
are 42% lower in sand-bedded herds than
Modern Dairy Systems: KauKauna,WI (920) 759-1712
(608) 546-3713 mattress-bedded.
Redeker Equipment: Brandon, WI
Modovi Dairy Systems: Mondovi,
It is more painful to rise from mattress
Dairyland Equipment:

WI
(920) 346-5576
(715) 926-5777
beds than more flexible surfaces, so lame
cows will forgo lying down. A vicious cycle
Call (518) 226-4850
Farm Country Co-op: Pine
Plainview, MN (507) 534-3161
for your nearest HealMax dealer
Island, MN (507) 534-2531
.
develops: standing causes lameness; lame
AgroChem Inc., 3 Duplainville Road, Saratoga Springs, NY 12866 (518) 226-4850 www.healmaxspray.com
cows stand more because it hurts to get up;
http://dairybusinesseast.hotims.com/25391-101 Please turn to page 28
8 May 2009 easterNDAIRYBUSINESS www.dairybusiness.com
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