Epidemiology of lameness; economic importance, prevalence and incidence

Herd health and comprehensive preventive medicine were notified since the last half of 20th century, as the farmers were better educated and the value of individual animals relative to veterinary fees has decreased. Restricted attention had been given to the above idea leads to misunderstanding of infectious and non-infectious diseases. Currently, veterinarians must support herd health programs designed to increase production by preventing disease, rather than just dispensing traditional treatment to clinically sick animals. Lameness as one of the costliest disorders in dairy herds, needs special attention. Both preventive costs (such as hoof trimming costs) and the losses due to heifer replacements and milk yield reduction should be counted as the economic losses of a disease. Indeed, local data play an important role in estimating lameness losses. Calculating measures of morbidity is a key point that helps the veterinarian and the farmer to know about the farm condition. So, in this article the economic importance of lameness and the concept of prevalence and incidence of it were reviewed. At the end there are some information about the prevalence and incidence of lameness in Iran and some other countries.