Relationships between lameness, conformation traits and claw disorders in Czech Holstein cows

ZAVADILOVÁ, Ludmila, KAŠNÁ, Eva, VAŘEKA, Jan, KUČERA, J., ŠLOSÁRKOVÁ, Soňa a FLEISCHER, Petr., 2022 Relationships between lameness, conformation traits and claw disorders in Czech Holstein cows. In Book of Abstracts of the 73rd Annual Meeting of the European Federation of Animal Science. Wageningen, The Netherlands: Wageningen Academic Publishers, s. 600. ISSN
Year2022
CathegoryOthers
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Abstract

The relationship among lameness (L), conformation traits (C) and foot and claw disorders (D) was analysed in Czech Holstein cattle. The 51,074 lactations of 25,581 cows were monitored on 29 farms from 2017 to 2021 for L and infectious claw disorders (ICD) such as dermatitis digitalis (DD), interdigital phlegmon (IP), dermatitis interdigitalis and heel horn erosion. The D was considered an all-or-none trait with 0 (no case) and 1 (at least one case). The official web application Diary of Diseases and Medication was a source for L, D records. Linear type traits (LT) all scored on a 9-point scale included: rear legs rear view, rear leg set (side view), foot angle, legs&feet, locomotion and BCS (body condition score). Genetic parameters and standard errors were estimated using the AIREML method and bivariate animal models with fixed effects of herd-year-season of calving (L, D), parity (L, D); herd-year-season of classification (LT), classifier (LT), linear and quadratic regressions on day of classification (LT); random effects of the permanent environment of a cow (L, D) and animal (L, D, LT). The lactation incidence of L was 8%; DD 8%; IP 5% and ICD14%. The strongest genetic correlation occurred between L and locomotion -0.23. Those between L and other traits were lower: legs&feet -0.11; foot angle 0.12; BCS 0.09; rear legs rear view 0.08, rear legs side view 0.11. On dataset sustained from 12 herds, the genetic correlations were between L and DD 0.21; IP 0.76; ICD 0.52; between locomotion and DD -0.20; IP -0.73; ICD -0.15. We conclude that locomotion is usable in the genetic improvement of lameness in Czech Holstein cows. We affirmed that lameness is genetically linked to DD and IP. With genetic selection against lameness, we can also expect a reduction in the incidence of DD and IP. However, the achievement of genetic evaluation of dairy cows‘ lameness depends on breeders‘ monitoring of lameness, and claw disorders data.