PHOTOS: INTRACARE


HEAL ▶▶▶TH


Managing digital dermatitis in youngstock


BY DAISY ROIJACKERS, MSC., MARC SPACKLER, MSC., AND GERWEN LAMMERS, PH.D. L


ameness has a major impact on animal health, wel- fare and production. It is one of the main reasons for mature dairy cattle to be culled, next to mastitis and infertility. Combine this with the additional treatment


costs and diminished milk production, and it results in major financial consequences for the dairy farmer (Willshire and Bell, 2009). Several studies have identified first-parity animals as the most susceptible to developing digital dermatitis (DD). The stressful experience around the first calving, caused by envi- ronmental and metabolic changes, is suspected of causing a higher prevalence. However, the time before the first lacta- tion is often overlooked. A small number of studies that did focus on DD in youngstock found very interesting results.


Digital dermatitis in youngstock A study in Alberta, Canada, studied the prevalence of DD in youngstock older than 12 months. In 11 DD-positive herds, theDD prevalence in youngstock >12 months was 9.9% (95% CI: 7.8–12.0) (Jacobs et al., 2017). In Denmark, the pre-calving heifer prevalence for DD was 15% (data from five herds, four months before calving) (Capion et al., 2009). An even higher DD prevalence for heifers was found in a study from Wiscon- sin, where the prevalence was 21% in one herd (at 21 months of age) and 30% at a mean age of 23 months (Gomez et al., 2015). This is problematic since these studies also showed the fol- lowing consequences for lactating dairy cows:


• DD in youngstock increases the risk and severity of DD after calving


The presence of DD in youngstock is associated with an in- creased DD prevalence in the lactation stage. When the youngstock are exposed to an environment with a high DD risk, more severe DD lesions were observed after calving (Gomez et al., 2015; Holzhauer et al., 2012; Jacobs et al., 2017; Laven and Logue, 2007).


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The amount of scientific research focusing on lameness has increased rapidly over the last decade, and the mature dairy cow is almost always the main research subject. One of the main causes of lameness in dairy cows is digital dermatitis.


• Lower heifer DD prevalence has a positive effect on hoof health and treatment costs in the first lactation A study by Gomez and others monitored the percentage of animals that received treatment for DD in the first lactation in three groups: heifers with no DD in the rearing period, one DD treatment in the rearing period and several DD treat- ments in the rearing period. The percentage of animals that received treatment for DD in the first lactation was 13.7%, 45.6% and 67.6%, respectively (Table 1) (Gomez et al., 2015).


Individual spray- ing with a low-pressure sprayer or an au- tomatic sprayer is easier and gaining in popularity.


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