Does cleanliness, body condition or gait score effect on udder health? An observational study

Although the cleanliness of beef cattle is assessed for food hygiene reasons in slaughtering houses, cleanliness scoring in dairy cattle is less common. However, unhygienic environmental conditions could result in environmental evoked disease (such as foot and udder disorders) and reduced animal welfare. Therefore, the cleanliness of dairy cattle could also be implemented as a parameter for several health issues (e.g. mastitis, gait, welfare). To investigate to which extend the cleanliness, body condition and gait of dairy cattle influences the udder health, the following experiment is conducted. Ten randomly selected dairy cows are monitored during one year on six Flemish dairy herds. Monthly, the cleanliness, body condition and gait score of these cows will be determined by two independent trained persons. In contrast with traditional cleanliness scoring systems scoring the whole animal, this scoring system will focus on five specific udder related parts of the cow. Cleanliness was scored on a scale of 0 (no dirt) to 2 (dirty on 100% of the area). A 3 point method was used to score the gait of the cows and the body condition scores. In addition, udder quarter milk samples are collected monthly for somatic cell count. This observational study will end in April 2009 and results will be presented during the congress. This study is part of a larger project which aims to clarify the complex relationships between different factors explaining the mastitis status of cows and quarters and their evolution over time.Although the cleanliness of beef cattle is assessed for food hygiene reasons in slaughtering houses, cleanliness scoring in dairy cattle is less common. However, unhygienic environmental conditions could result in environmental evoked disease (such as foot and udder disorders) and reduced animal welfare. Therefore, the cleanliness of dairy cattle could also be implemented as a parameter for several health issues (e.g. mastitis, gait, welfare). To investigate to which extend the cleanliness, body condition and gait of dairy cattle influences the udder health, the following experiment is conducted. Ten randomly selected dairy cows are monitored during one year on six Flemish dairy herds. Monthly, the cleanliness, body condition and gait score of these cows will be determined by two independent trained persons. In contrast with traditional cleanliness scoring systems scoring the whole animal, this scoring system will focus on five specific udder related parts of the cow. Cleanliness was scored on a scale of 0 (no dirt) to 2 (dirty on 100% of the area). A 3 point method was used to score the gait of the cows and the body condition scores. In addition, udder quarter milk samples are collected monthly for somatic cell count. This observational study will end in April 2009 and results will be presented during the congress. This study is part of a larger project which aims to clarify the complex relationships between different factors explaining the mastitis status of cows and quarters and their evolution over time.C