38 Follow us on Twitter: @PrairieFarming Better Farming | February 2024 Livestock PREVENTING FEEDLOT LAMENESS Lame calves have reduced welfare & higher costs. By Emily Croft Lameness in feedlot cattle is a painful condition that impacts animal welfare and health, can increase days on feed and cost of production and create extra labour and stress for feedlot producers. Recent studies from Western Canada have found that lameness is the second most common cause for treatment in feedlot calves, following only respiratory disease, says Dr. Karen Schwartzkopf-Genswein, principal research scientist in beef cattle physiology and welfare at Agricultural and Agri-Food Canada. There are a variety of causes of lameness, as well as animal and farm factors that can increase the risk of calves developing lameness while on feed. Better Farming spoke with industry professionals from Western Canada and Ontario about what causes lameness, how it affects production and how it can be prevented in feedlots. Causes of lameness The causes of lameness can be described by a few categories. “As a veterinarian, I usually like to think about categories,” says Cynthia Miltenburg, lead veterinarian of Animal Health and Welfare at the Ontario Ministry of Agriculture, Food, and Rural Affairs. “The first category is infectious disease. Another would be an injury, such as a fall, sprain or break. Then there are nutrition causes. These would be feed related, like a high grain diet or mycotoxins.” Infectious causes of lameness are often the first considered when a problem arises. The most common cause of infectious lameness is foot rot. “In terms of infectious causes of lameness, there are a couple different diseases. Foot rot would be most common, and it’s caused by a bacterial infection,” says Miltenburg. “Then we have been seeing a bit more digital dermatitis, which is also caused by bacteria. It can cause more of a lesion on the foot – some people call it strawberry foot rot or hairy heel wart because of the raised lesion. There’s also infectious arthritis and there are a few bacteria that can cause that, but the most common is Mycoplasma bovis. “And the last infectious cause is toe tip necrosis. Right now, that is not as well understood, but bacteria enter It can be more difficult to identify signs of lameness early in feed lots with uneven walking surfaces like frozen yards. Murphy_Shewchuk/iStock/Getty Images Plus photo
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