A good lameness-prevention plan starts with a basic understanding of what a set of four healthy hooves is all about.

Tips to prevent dairy cow lameness

Proper nutrition is the key to keeping cattle walking with comfort

Top-performing dairy cows must have healthy hooves. Walking and standing on four good hooves is the foundation of eating lots of well-balanced feed and then producing lots of milk. It is also a prerequisite for good standing heats, which leads to successful pregnancy. On the other hand, lame cows have a painful time getting out […] Read more

bulls in pen

Managing the stifled cow or bull

Animal Health with Roy Lewis: A condition that can be treated, but culling may also be best option

A stifle condition is more commonly seen in older cows and in bulls that suffer breeding injuries. Many of these lamenesses are probably diagnosed incorrectly and in many cases treated inappropriately, often resulting in an animals being kept too long. When we talk about a stifled cow or bull, we refer to injury to ligaments […] Read more



A foot affected by a very large interdigital fibroma or corn.

Assess lameness problem before rushing to treatment

Animal Health: Don’t just assume a limping animal has foot rot, as several conditions may apply

During summer grazing, lameness is one of the most common ailments encountered in beef cattle. Whether it’s calves, cows, yearlings or purebred or commercial, none are immune from developing some types of lameness. Surprisingly, many cattle really don’t require much treatment, yet many are treated. Producers often use the all-encompassing term of ‘foot rot,’ yet […] Read more


Cows leaving the dairy

Proper diet reduces risk of lame cows

A well-balanced ration and a clean barn are a great combination to keep dairy cows mobile

Recently, I conducted a barn walk in a 300-cow robot-milking dairy and within 10 minutes I spotted more than a half-dozen limping cows. I did not know what caused them to limp, but after I talked to the dairy manager, I discovered that lameness was a significant problem on his operation and several of these […] Read more

cattle on a pasture unable to rise

Dealing with downer cattle, not simple or easy

Animal Health: There are many reasons a seemingly healthy cow can go down, 
and quite often no easy procedure to get her back up

Farmers and veterinarians since the beginning of time have pondered over the proverbial downer cow. Typically, a downer cow surprises the farmer. It is often a perfectly healthy animal with no presenting history suddenly found down and unable to rise. Because cattle, especially mature ones, are such heavy beasts, complications can ensue after being down […] Read more


dairy cattle in a stall

Mud is a hotbed of disease and poor eating habits for dairy cattle

As little as four inches of mud can slow performance and it can 
be an excellent environment for disease affecting cattle health


Once I was checking the spring ration for a dairy producer who raised a group of replacement dairy heifers in a drylot. The mud was about a half metre deep and with each step toward the feeder, it was slow going. About half-way along, my boot got stuck and by struggling, I buried it. Abandoning […] Read more

dairy cow walking through a footbath

New footbath for dairy cattle

Laboratorie M2 based in Quebec has introduced what it describes as a new safe, low cost and easy-to-use agriculture disinfectant footbath that has been proven to be more or as effective as traditional treatments to prevent and control lameness diseases such as digital dermatitis (DD) in dairy herds. Made from the plant-based ingredient thymol, Thymox […] Read more


photo: file

Be alert for common young calf problems

Every calving season, veterinarians are called on to examine calves with a multitude of problems. Some are herd management related but many are individual problems of no concern to the rest of the herd. Most cases fall into a few broad categories. Each category has a much different treatment regime. With calves, clinically we need […] Read more