Lameness: spotting changes in how animals walk
Lameness is a change in how an animal walks because of pain or injury in the foot, hoof or leg. Cases can rise quickly across a herd with wet ground, hard floors or poor hoof care. Affected animals eat less and produce less milk or gain less weight.
How do you spot a lame animal?
Look for a bobbing head, short strides or an arched back as you watch animals walk from behind. Use a locomotion score, a rating from 1 for sound to 5 for severely lame, to compare each animal's walking from week to week.
What helps reduce lameness?
Keep walking surfaces dry, trim hooves regularly and treat foot infections early to reduce cases. For example, a farm trimming hooves twice a year notes when each animal goes lame, which foot is affected and what treatment it receives. Repeated cases help show whether passage floors or the trimming schedule need attention.
Questions from the farm
What is a locomotion score?
A locomotion score rates how an animal walks, from 1 for sound to 5 for severely lame. Comparing scores over time helps you see whether lameness is becoming more common across your herd.
How HerdMobile helps
Bring your animals, feed stocks and farm accounts together on your Android phone. HerdMobile keeps your daily work moving offline: record events, compare feed quantities and follow sales and payments in one place. Use your own feeds and herd information to prepare a ration, then keep a backup file under your control.
Use HerdMobile's health notes to follow each lame animal's score, affected foot and treatment date, so you can check its progress in one place.
