Early diagnosis, an important success factor for treatment and control of lameness in cow

Lameness is one of the cases of culling of cows; also it causes weight and production loss because of pain and has a lot of therapeutic cost. In a study, the prevalence of lameness was estimated on average 2.2% in dairy herds by farmers. After more objective locomotion scoring, the prevalence of lameness in same dairy herds was on average 8.1%. This matter shows importance of correct lameness diagnosis. The aim of this article is review of practical ways to early diagnosis of lameness in cows. Early diagnosis of lameness in cows is a very important matter because a cow that shows sever lameness have major problems and easily recognizable but a cow with lesser injury have a milder lameness and diagnosis is more difficult. In case of timely detection there is more success in treatment because of less injury. The best time for lameness diagnosis is the cows are monitored when they go to the milking parlor and return. The studies were shown usually farmers identify one of the four lamb cows because they spend a little time for this task, also the gait of cows change on different floors, like wet concrete, although it is difficult to diagnose the sound gait of mild lameness in many cases. In dairy cattle farms in addition to Body Condition Score which is done regularly, Locomotion Scoring is done regularly to allow early diagnosis of lameness.