ISSUE FOCUS 24 FEED & ADDITIVE MAGAZINE June 2023 motion scoring is a tool that determines the extent of lameness in order to determine if the problem is serious enough to justify attempting to alleviate it. Visually scored on a scale of 1 to 5, where a score of 1 reflects a cow that walks normally and a score of 5 reflects a cow that is three-legged lame, a locomotion score is made in a few seconds per cow. When it comes to avoiding and treating lameness, one way is through regular hoof maintenance. Cow’s hooves should be trimmed at least twice a year, and regularly inspected and repaired. Regular hoof trimming provides an opportunity to check for hoof disorders, which commonly cause lameness, such as: • Heel erosion • Hemorrhaging • Ulcer in the sole • Ulcer in the whiteline • Cracked hoofs • Bruising of the sole • Foot rot • Digital dermatitis Work with your nutritionist, veterinarian, and hoof trimmer to develop a lameness prevention program. OPTIMIZING RUMEN HEALTH WITH POSTBIOTICS: A SOLUTION FOR LAMENESS CHALLENGES Although it is vital to provide proper heat abatement strategies, there are also feeding strategies that may assist in reducing lost performance. Incorporating a proper postbiotic feed ingredient product can help stabilize the rumen, enhance microbiome populations, support gut integrity, and maintain intake and digestion – providing more available energy to the animal. Ultimately, this can result in greater profitability on the farm. In fact, Dr. Lance Baumgard and team did a study at Iowa State University (Baumgard et al., 2020) to determine if a postbiotic moderated impacts of an induced heat stress (through thermal blankets) on production, metabolism, and immune/stress indicators of lactating dairy cows. They concluded that during heat stress, cows fed a postbiotic compared to control cows experienced: • Reduced somatic cell count (SCC) • Lower magnitude of heart rate increase • Reduction in stress hormone of cortisol • Increased circulating immune cells (white blood cells and neutrophils) Treatment, P= 0.03 Time, P < 0.05 Time* Treatment, P= 0.99 P1 1 3 5 7 Stress Responses: Cortisol Control Day 20 15 10 5 0 Postbiotic Cortisol, mg/ml Score Description Black Assessment 1 2 3 4 5 Normal Mildly lame Moderately lame Lame Severely Flat Flat or arch Arch Arch 3-legged Cow stands and walks with a level back. Gait is normal. Cow stands level backed, but develops an arched back to walk. Normal gait. Arched back is evident while standing and walking. Gait is short strided. Arch back is always evident and gait is one deliberate step at a time. Cow favors one or more legs/feet. Cow demonstrates an inability, or extreme reluctance to bear weight on one or more limbs/feet. Table 1. Locomotion Scoring Guide Adapted from Sprecher et al. (Theriogenology 47:1179-1187; 1997)
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