46 Follow us on Twitter @BetterFarmingON Better Farming | December 2023 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 Ontario and Western Canada 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 OMAFRA. “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 between the sole and the hoof and it’s usually in the hind feet.” Schwartzkopf-Genswein explains how some of these diseases enter the feedlot. She says that digital dermatitis has increased more recently alongside an influx of dairy calves entering feedlots. “An emerging issue is digital dermatitis, which is more traditionally a dairy cattle foot lesion, but now we see it in the feedlot. Because we have had more dairy calves coming in over the years, we believe that’s where it’s coming from.” She specifies that in studies in Western Canada, digital dermatitis is most commonly observed at approximately 104 days on feed. “Toe tip necrosis tends to happen in younger receiving calves and you typically see it two to three weeks after entry into the feedlot. We think it happens on the truck, where the tip of the toe is abraded, and it gets down to the white line and bacteria can get into the hoof that way,” explains Schwartzkopf-Genswein. “In severe cases, the infection can travel up the tendon sheath in the leg.” Schwartzkopf-Genswein adds that foot rot can be observed at any time in Account for risk factors and catch lameness early to improve herd health and performance. Beef Farmers of Ontario photo
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