LAMENESS AND FOOT LESIONS IN ADULT BRITISH DAIRY GOATS

In the first population-based study of lameness and foot lesions in ad ult goats in the UK, a random sample of 307 adult goats from four larg e commercial dairy farms was examined, The overall proportion of lame goats was 9.1 per cent (2.6 to 24.4 per cent), The abnormalities detec ted were horn separation (29.6 per cent), white line lesions (13.0 per cent) slippering (10.1 per cent), abscess of the sole (4.2 per cent), foreign body, and granulomatous lesions (1.0 per cent), Between 83.1 and 95.5 per cent of the goats had overgrown horn on at least one foot , The number of feet of individual goats with horn separation followed a Poisson distribution suggesting that it was associated with environ mental rather than genetic or nutritional factors, Horn separation, ab scess of the sole and footrot were significantly associated with lamen ess, but white line lesions, slippering and granulomatous lesions mere not, There were differences between the farms in the prevalence of la meness and foot lesions, Routine foot trimming was associated with a l ower prevalence of lameness.