Lameness recovery rates following treatment of dairy cattle with claw horn lameness in the Waikato region of New Zealand

Figures & data

Table 1. Lameness scoring descriptors used in a study of lameness recovery rates following treatment of dairy cattle with claw horn lesions on 5 farms from the Waikato region of New Zealand (adapted from DairyNZ lameness scoring system; DairyNZ 2023).

Lameness score	Descriptor
0	Walks with even weight bearing on all four limbs at a similar walking speed to a person, with regular stride length and rhythm. Straight back line at all times and head held in line or slightly below the backline and steady when walking
1	Walks unevenly but reduced weight-bearing on affected limb not easily obvious. May have uneven stride length and/or rhythm. Backline straight when standing but may be mildly arched when walking
2	Lame, with decreased stride length on affected limb. Weight-bearing reduced on affected limb, which can easily be identified. Walking speed slower than normal. Backline often arched when standing and walking and head bobs up and down when walking
3	Severely lame, with minimal or no weight-bearing on affected limb. Reluctant to move and cannot keep up with the healthy herd. Backline arched when standing and walking and often large head movements up and down when walking

Table 2. Descriptive statistics (number (n) and percentage) of the population of enrolled dairy cattle with claw horn lameness across two dairy seasons (n = 241) recorded as part of a study of lameness recovery rates following treatment on 5 farms from the Waikato region of New Zealand.

		Year
Variable	Overall (n = 241)	2020 (n = 151)	2021 (n = 90)
Farm
Farm 1	33 (14%)	33 (22%)	0 (0%)
Farm 2	78 (32%)	31 (21%)	47 (52%)
Farm 3	33 (14%)	21 (14%)	12 (13%)
Farm 4	60 (25%)	29 (19%)	31 (34%)
Farm 5	37 (15%)	37 (25%)	0 (0%)
Claw-horn lesion
Sole	16 (6.6%)	10 (6.6%)	6 (6.7%)
White line	225 (93%)	141 (93%)	84 (93%)
Two limbs involved
No	226 (94%)	140 (93%)	86 (96%)
Yes	15 (6.2%)	11 (7.3%)	4 (4.4%)
Age (years)
2	18 (7.5%)	12 (7.9%)	6 (6.7%)
3	22 (9.1%)	14 (9.3%)	8 (8.9%)
4–8	161 (67%)	99 (66%)	62 (69%)
> 8	40 (17%)	26 (17%)	14 (16%)
Breed
Friesian	61 (25%)	41 (27%)	20 (22%)
Jersey	47 (20%)	24 (16%)	23 (26%)
Cross-breed	133 (55%)	86 (57%)	47 (52%)
Block applied
No	34 (14%)	25 (17%)	9 (10%)
Yes	207 (86%)	126 (83%)	81 (90%)
LS^a at enrolment
2	218 (90%)	138 (91%)	80 (89%)
3	23 (9.5%)	13 (8.6%)	10 (11%)
Limb
Back left	124 (51%)	82 (54%)	42 (47%)
Back right	99 (41%)	61 (40%)	38 (42%)
Front left	10 (4.1%)	5 (3.3%)	5 (5.6%)
Front right	8 (3.3%)	3 (2.0%)	5 (5.6%)
Claw
Lateral	189 (78%)	131 (87%)	58 (64%)
Medial	52 (22%)	20 (13%)	32 (36%)

^a Lameness score (LS) system adapted from DairyNZ (2023).

Figure 1. Kaplan–Meier estimate of cumulative survival curve and risk table for the days to become sound (lameness score = 0, adapted from DairyNZ 2023) following treatment for dairy cattle (n = 241) with claw horn lesions on five farms in the Waikato region of New Zealand. The shaded area represents 95% log-log CI, and the + are right-censored animals.

Table 3. Kaplan–Meier non-parametric cumulative survival probability (with 95% CI) for probability of soundness (lameness score^a (LS) = 0) and probability of non-lame (LS ≤ 1) at 7, 14, 21, 28 and 35 days after enrolment in a study of lameness recovery rates following treatment of dairy cattle with claw horn lesions on 5 farms from the Waikato region of New Zealand.

Days since enrolment	Probability of lameness cure
	LS = 0	LS ≤ 1
7	0.19 (0.25–0.15)	0.54 (0.61–0.48)
14	0.46 (0.53–0.4)	0.81 (0.86–0.76)
21	0.62 (0.69–0.56)	0.94 (0.97–0.9)
28	0.8 (0.85–0.74)	0.97 (0.99–0.94)
35	0.91 (0.94–0.86)	1.00

^a LS adapted from DairyNZ (2023).

Figure 2. Cumulative survival curve from a Cox proportional-hazard model for the days to become sound (lameness score = 0, adapted from DairyNZ 2023) following treatment for dairy cattle (n = 241) with claw horn lesions on each of five farms in the Waikato region of New Zealand.

Table 4. Results of final Cox proportional-hazards semi-parametric regression model predicting hazard rate ratio (HRR) for return to soundness following treatment of dairy cattle (n = 241) with claw horn lesions on five farms in the Waikato region of New Zealand.

Variable/category	Coefficient	SE	HRR (95% CI)	P-value
Farm				0.007
1	Reference
2	0.43	0.22	1.54 (1.00–2.39)
3	0.26	0.27	1.29 (0.76–2.21)
4	0.26	0.23	1.30 (0.82–2.06)
5	0.92	0.26	2.51 (1.50–4.18)

Table 5. Results of univariable Cox proportional-hazards semi-parametric regression models predicting hazard rate ratio (HRR) for return to soundness following treatment of dairy cattle (n = 241) with claw horn lesions on five farms in the Waikato region of New Zealand.

Variables	HRR (95% CI)	P-value
Age (years)
>8	Ref	0.48
2	0.89 (0.49–1.63)
3	0.69 (0.40–1.20)
>3–8	0.77 (0.54–1.11)
Lame limbs
1	Ref	0.72
2	0.91 (0.53–1.56)
Lameness score at enrolment (0–3 scale^a)
2		0.50
3	0.85 (0.52–1.38)
Breed
Friesian	Ref	0.72
Jersey	1.1 (0.74–1.65)
Cross-breed	0.95 (0.69–1.32)
Year
2020	Ref	0.11
2021	0.8 (0.60–1.06)

^a Adapted from DairyNZ (2023)

Ref = the reference category for each categorical variable.

Figure 3. Kaplan–Meier estimate of cumulative survival curve and risk table for the days to become non-lame (lameness score ≤ 1, adapted from DairyNZ 2023) following treatment for dairy cattle (n = 241) with claw horn lesions on five farms in the Waikato region of New Zealand. The shaded area represents 95% log-log CI, and the + are right-censored animals.

*DairyNZ. Identifying Lame Cows. https://www.dairynz.co.nz/animal/cow-health/lameness/identifying-lame-cows/ (accessed 20 April 2023). Dairy NZ, Hamilton, NZ, 2023

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