Arthur Hanna, who runs 130 Holstein Friesian cows in Armoy, Co Antrim, recently availed of Provita Hoofsure HELP service. Lameness is a major challenge in dairy herds across the globe. Infectious conditions are the biggest contributor towards lameness, with Digital Dermatitis (DD) the most commonly seen condition which can spread quickly throughout the entire herd if left unmanaged. This painful infection affects the skin around the hoof mainly at the back of the cleft between the claws and due claw. Lameness reduces mobility, comfort, feed intake, milk yield, fertility and ultimately gross margin. Milk yield can be reduced by at least 1 litre per cow per day.
Lameness help
Provita Product Demonstrations
Provita are hosting several demonstrations on ‘Making Better Silage’ and reducing lameness over the week beginning Monday 8th January. See below for full details of the events:
Provita Hoofsure HELP service demo – Reducing lameness and improving profitability
The demonstration hosted by Pat Lenehan and his nephew Pete was well attended by farmers with lameness problems on their farm. Not all of them footbath regularly or have a system set up to allow regular footbathing. Pat and Pete milk 70 cows in Crossmaglen. When they were installing a new parlour, they contacted Provita rep Kieran Donnelly to arrange a no obligation visit to action Provita’s Hoofsure Endurance Lameness Programme HELP to advise them on their footbathing set-up. They wanted a system that would minimise disruption to milking and allow good cow flow. Following consultation with Kieran, the pre-cast concrete footbath set-up allowed a full side of cows to exit the parlour before they reached the footbath which allows more dominant cows to walk through more rapidly and the more hesitant cows to have space and go through at their own pace. Cows are footbathed at every evening milking. When Kieran scored the herd for digital dermatitis (DD) as part of the HELP service, the vast majority had DD. A protocol with high concentration of Hoofsure Endurance footbath solution was put in place for 2 months with positive results visible within 2 weeks into the programme – active DD reduced from 85% to 20%%. Once DD levels were low with infection pressure down, the concentration of Hoofsure Endurance used each evening has reduced.
Provita Hoofsure Endurance in another successful semi-automated system
Pat Mc Guire runs an autumn calving grazing herd in Rock near Dungannon, Co Tyrone. He is focused on efficiency and managing his cows to target 7000 litres on 1.5 t of meal. When reviewing the herd health plan with his veterinary practice Parklands Veterinary Group an easy to use footbathing system was identified as being needed on the farm. When Digital Dermatitis (DD) first took hold 3/4 of the cows had a problem.
Previously the farm had used a plastic bath with ridges, however cows were reluctant to go through it no matter how many times it was used. Various products including antibiotic footbaths were used but they didn’t work.
Lameness problems? Provita are here to HELP.
In recent months Provita have been providing a new service designed to help farmers reduce Digital Dermatitis related lameness. An initial, no obligation, on farm assessment and a Digital Dermatitis check will be carried out by a fully trained member of our team. If the farmer adopts the plan recommended and tailored for them, a one month call back visit is arranged and the progress will be checked. After this, the plan can be maintained, increased or decreased depending on results. Once our team and the farmer are confident that the routine is working progress will be monitored on bi monthly or quarterly visits.