By Bargai, U. and Levin, D., Israel-Journal-of-Veterinary-Medicine, 1993
Description
Since veterinary service to almost all the dairy cows in Israel is provided by a single system ('Hachaklait'), it is possible to find out the exact prevalence of any health problem on a national level, since all the veterinarians employed supply diagnostic results monthly to the system's central computer. During 1990, there were 6100 diagnosed cases of lameness in dairy cattle, 1527 (25%) of which were lameness of hoof origin. Hoof lameness was reported in the literature to be closely associated with sub-clinical laminitis. In a study to find out the prevalence of sub-clinical laminitis in the Israeli dairy cattle herd, the hoof lesions of 9 herds were recorded at the bi-annual hoof trimming. The herds were selected at random as these were the herds in which trimming was done at the time of the study. The most prevalent lesions were solar haemorrhages averaging 28.6%, and white line separation, averaging 26.7%. These 2 lesions are known to be sequelae of sub-clinical laminitis. It is concluded that the prevalence rates of solar haemorrhages and white line separation found in the study indicate that sub-clinical laminitis is widespread in Israel. The energetic value of the diet of the high yielding cows was positively correlated to the increase in the prevalence of lameness of hoof origin in the herd. The same trend was found with regard to a rise in the protein level in the ration, as well as to an increase of time interval between trimmings
Since veterinary service to almost all the dairy cows in Israel is provided by a single system ('Hachaklait'), it is possible to find out the exact prevalence of any health problem on a national level, since all the veterinarians employed supply diagnostic results monthly to the system's central computer. During 1990, there were 6100 diagnosed cases of lameness in dairy cattle, 1527 (25%) of which were lameness of hoof origin. Hoof lameness was reported in the literature to be closely associated with sub-clinical laminitis. In a study to find out the prevalence of sub-clinical laminitis in the Israeli dairy cattle herd, the hoof lesions of 9 herds were recorded at the bi-annual hoof trimming. The herds were selected at random as these were the herds in which trimming was done at the time of the study. The most prevalent lesions were solar haemorrhages averaging 28.6%, and white line separation, averaging 26.7%. These 2 lesions are known to be sequelae of sub-clinical laminitis. It is concluded that the prevalence rates of solar haemorrhages and white line separation found in the study indicate that sub-clinical laminitis is widespread in Israel. The energetic value of the diet of the high yielding cows was positively correlated to the increase in the prevalence of lameness of hoof origin in the herd. The same trend was found with regard to a rise in the protein level in the ration, as well as to an increase of time interval between trimmings
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