2012 Cattle Lameness Conference A Runaway Success!

(L-R): Colin Mason, Christoph Mulling, Brian Pocknee, Jess Stokes, Jon Huxley, Sara Pedersen, Roger Blowey, Nick Bell. The organisation of this years’ Cattle Lameness Conference held in Worcester on 2nd May was a collaborative effort between The Royal Veterinary College (University of London), The Dairy Group and The School of Veterinary Medicine and Science (University of Nottingham). It was a huge success with vets, academics, policy makers and key players in the diary industry leaving with a new perspective and innovative ideas about how to approach the prevention and treatment of lameness. After an introduction from the Chairman, the talks kicked off with an authoritative presentation from Mr. Roger Blowey reflecting on how cattle lameness cases have changed over the years. He talked of increasing numbers of the particularly hard to treat protracted lameness cases involving white line disease and toe necrosis lesions and demonstrated the extent of the lesions he was discussing with some distal phalanx bone specimens, generating a lot of interest from the audience. The speaker’s presentation discussed some exciting new discoveries regarding the involvement of intra-cellular treponemes in such cases and reflected on the parallels with digital dermatitis. The implications of these discoveries could re-shape the way these lameness cases are treated, potentially targeting with antimicrobials with intracellular activity. The talks were continued by Professor Christoph Mulling from the University of Leipzig, with some futuristic 3D modeling of the vascular supply to the bovine foot used to illustrate the effects of body condition score on the digital fat pad. The presentation demonstrated perfectly how this software could be used to help understand the pathogenic components of diseases resulting in lameness. A stimulating talk was that given by Mrs Sara Pedersen of the Nantwich Veterinary Group. Her highly practical presentation about digital amputation methods and subsequent long term outcomes was fascinating. She described a method by which the amputation was performed at the proximal inter-phalangeal joint, rather than the traditionally taught mid-P2 method. Reasoning that interrupting the blood supply emanating from distal P2 often caused necrosis of the bone left behind after mid-P2 amputation, Mrs Pedersen explained that her method generated fewer post-op, long term problems. These observations were further strengthened by data collected regarding longevity of dairy cattle after using this amputation method. Remarkably, for front feet, there is no significant difference in survival times of animals having undergone the alternative method of digit amputation and normal animals. When it came to hind feet, her method provided an increased likelihood of survival past one lactation compared to the traditional amputation method. In all, an extremely interesting presentation that gave the audience a lot of food for thought. Some excellent posters were submitted for judging with the best poster prize awarded to Helen Higgins from the University of Nottingham for her work addressing the challenges and solutions to convincing farmers to implement farm health protocols. Also of note was the poster provided by Dr Jess Stokes from the University of Bristol showing the connection between lameness and standing times, mobility and time budgets. In it, she related these points to on-farm welfare and the incidence of sole ulcer lesions. Her poster provided a strong re-iteration of and statistical support for, important key factors affecting lameness in cattle. The conference also saw Roger Blowey receive a lifetime achievement award for his contribution towards literature and education on the subject matter. Mike Steele, Ruminant Technical Advisor for Elanco - main sponsor of the conference, presented the award and said “I am thrilled to be able to present this award to Roger. His many excellent books, manner with students and engaging presentation skills make him a worthy recipient”. Mike also commented how pleased Elanco were to sponsor the event as the company continues to increase its support for dairy vets and the dairy industry as whole. He passed on hearty thanks to Dr Nick Bell of The University of London Vet School for giving up much of his own time to organise the event. The 2012 Cattle Lameness Conference exceeded previous years’ success and once again provided a forum for some exciting, educational and emerging topics to be shared and discussed. With potentially groundbreaking discoveries regarding protracted lameness cases, the remarkably positive statistical support for a new digit amputation method and herd health initiatives to reduce standing time and engage farmers to take an active role, there was plenty for this years’ delegates to chew the cud about!

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