Lameness detection in dairy cows: Part 1. How to distinguish between non-lame and lame cows based on differences in locomotion or behavior?

Due to its detrimental effect on cow welfare, health and production, lameness in dairy cows has received quite some attention in the last decades. Not only in terms of prevention and treatment of lameness but also in terms of detection, as early treatment might help decreasing the number of severely lame cows in the herds as well as decreasing the direct and indirect costs associated with lameness cases. Generally, lame cows are detected by the herdsman, hoof trimmer or veterinarian based on abnormal locomotion, abnormal behavior or the presence of hoof lesions during routine trimming. In scientific literature, several guidelines are proposed to detect lame cows based on visual interpretation of the locomotion of individual cows, i.e. locomotion scoring systems. Moreover, research and the industry focus on automating such observations to support the farmer in finding the lame cows in their herds, but until now, such automated systems are rarely being used in commercial herds. This review starts with the description of normal locomotion of cows in order to also define ‘abnormal’ locomotion caused by lameness. Cow locomotion (gait and posture) and behavioral features that change when a cow becomes lame are described and linked to the existing visual scoring systems. In addition, the lack of information of normal cow gait and a clear description of ‘abnormal’ gait are discussed. Finally, the different set-ups used during locomotion scoring and their influence on the resulting locomotion score is evaluated.status: publishe