Full Text Available

Note: Clicking the button above will open the full text document at the original institutional repository in a new window.

Evaluation of claw health of dairy cattle housed in dirt lot vs free stall in TMR systems in the central region of South Africa

Dissertation (MSc (Agric))--University of Pretoria, 2019.

Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Other Authors: Van Marle-Koster, Este
Format: Thesis
Language:English
Published: University of Pretoria 2020
Subjects:
Tags: Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
_version_ 1867613630749474816
access_status_str Open Access
author2 Van Marle-Koster, Este
author_browse Van Marle-Koster, Este
author_facet Van Marle-Koster, Este
collection Thesis
dc_rights_str_mv © 2020 University of Pretoria. All rights reserved. The copyright in this work vests in the University of Pretoria. No part of this work may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, without the prior written permission of the University of Pretoria.
description Dissertation (MSc (Agric))--University of Pretoria, 2019.
format Thesis
id oai:repository.up.ac.za:2263/77851
institution University of Pretoria (South Africa)
language English
last_indexed 2026-06-10T12:39:12.360Z
license_str Other — see source repository
provenance_str_mv Harvested via OAI-PMH from UPSpace — University of Pretoria Institutional Repository
publishDate 2020
publishDateRange 2020
publishDateSort 2020
publisher University of Pretoria
publisherStr University of Pretoria
record_format dspace
source_str UPSpace — University of Pretoria Institutional Repository
spelling oai:repository.up.ac.za:2263/77851 Evaluation of claw health of dairy cattle housed in dirt lot vs free stall in TMR systems in the central region of South Africa Van Marle-Koster, Este u18240403@tuks.co.za Mhlongo, Nokuthula Lorraine UCTD Dairy cattle Claw health Lameness Dirt lot housing TMR (Total Mixed Ration) systems Natural and agricultural sciences theses SDG-02 Natural and agricultural sciences theses SDG-03 Natural and agricultural sciences theses SDG-12 Dissertation (MSc (Agric))--University of Pretoria, 2019. Claw health is arguably an important factor in dairy cow welfare. Evaluation is important as an early indicator of lameness in dairy cattle. In South Africa, information on claw lesions is not routinely collected and not yet included in genetic evaluations. The study aimed to evaluate the claw health of dairy cattle housed in dirt lot vs free stall under the TMR systems in the central regions of South Africa. The current study evaluated data 10 commercial dairy farms having a dirt lot or, free stall system. Data were collected by professional claw trimmers from January 2011 to May 2018. The scored claw disorders included heel erosion (E), digital dermatitis (DD), foot rot (F), hairy attack (HA), axial fissure (AX), sole ulcer (U), toe ulcer (TU), white line (WL), sole fracture (SF) and corkscrew (C). The edited data were statistically analysed for all lesions with years, infectious vs non-infectious, season, dirt lot vs free-stall as variables and season by housing interactions. A significance test after chi-square testing was also performed. The overall prevalence rate for all the lesions among trimmed cows was the highest in 2017 (30%) and 2016 (28%), compared to 2014 (17%), 2015 (18%) and 2018 (7%). The occurrence of infectious (59%) lesions (P < 0.001) was higher compared to non-infectious (41%) across years in all farms. Digital dermatitis (53%), E (35%) and C (41%) were the most frequent lesions (P < 0.001), reported in 70 to 80% of the total herds, while other lesions were relatively low. Heel erosion was significantly influenced by free stall farms, while DD was not influenced by housing systems (P > 0.002). Similarly, C was also not influenced by housing systems (P > 0.002). Heel erosion was significantly influenced (P < 0.001) by Autumn and Spring, with profound effects marked in Spring (8.4%). Summer and free stalls interactions significantly influenced E (P < 0.001). The current study suggests that seasons and housing type have notable effects on the prevalence of claw lesions. The findings indicate that different lesion types having significantly different risk factors, which will require intervention and specific management for ensuring claw health. bs2026 Animal and Wildlife Sciences MSc (Agric) Unrestricted SDG-02: Zero hunger SDG-03: Good health and well-being SDG-12: Responsible consumption and production 2020-12-29T11:50:56Z 2020-12-29T11:50:56Z 2020/04/24 2019 Dissertation Mhlongo, NL 2019, Evaluation of claw health of dairy cattle housed in dirt lot vs free stall in TMR systems in the central region of South Africa, MSc (Agric) Dissertation, University of Pretoria, Pretoria, viewed yymmdd <http://hdl.handle.net/2263/77851> A2020 http://hdl.handle.net/2263/77851 en © 2020 University of Pretoria. All rights reserved. The copyright in this work vests in the University of Pretoria. No part of this work may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, without the prior written permission of the University of Pretoria. application/pdf University of Pretoria
spellingShingle UCTD
Dairy cattle
Claw health
Lameness
Dirt lot housing
TMR (Total Mixed Ration) systems
Natural and agricultural sciences theses SDG-02
Natural and agricultural sciences theses SDG-03
Natural and agricultural sciences theses SDG-12
Evaluation of claw health of dairy cattle housed in dirt lot vs free stall in TMR systems in the central region of South Africa
title Evaluation of claw health of dairy cattle housed in dirt lot vs free stall in TMR systems in the central region of South Africa
title_full Evaluation of claw health of dairy cattle housed in dirt lot vs free stall in TMR systems in the central region of South Africa
title_fullStr Evaluation of claw health of dairy cattle housed in dirt lot vs free stall in TMR systems in the central region of South Africa
title_full_unstemmed Evaluation of claw health of dairy cattle housed in dirt lot vs free stall in TMR systems in the central region of South Africa
title_short Evaluation of claw health of dairy cattle housed in dirt lot vs free stall in TMR systems in the central region of South Africa
title_sort evaluation of claw health of dairy cattle housed in dirt lot vs free stall in tmr systems in the central region of south africa
topic UCTD
Dairy cattle
Claw health
Lameness
Dirt lot housing
TMR (Total Mixed Ration) systems
Natural and agricultural sciences theses SDG-02
Natural and agricultural sciences theses SDG-03
Natural and agricultural sciences theses SDG-12
url http://hdl.handle.net/2263/77851