Reducing cattle lameness - Making it happen on farm

Promoting a reduction in the levels of lameness in UK is an important priority for the UK dairy industry. Whilst further studies are still needed to better understand some aspects of cattle lameness, a significant body of knowledge is already available that could and should be implemented at a farm level. Previous work has developed a risk assessment approach that promoted the development of farm specific action plans based on farm specific risk factors (Bell and others 2009). However, an important finding from this work was that even though the advice on how to reduce lameness was valid, many farmers did not implement it when it was provided in a traditional advisory style. Better methods for promoting uptake of existing knowledge are, therefore, needed to promote reductions in lameness.