THE EFFECT OF DIET AND HOUSING ON THE DEVELOPMENT OF SOLE HEMORRHAGES, WHITE LINE HEMORRHAGES AND HEEL EROSIONS IN HOLSTEIN HEIFERS

Haemorrhagic lesions, heel erosions and changes in foot conformation h ave been associated with husbandry, underfoot conditions and nutrition of dairy cows. These characteristics were monitored in 40 heifers in a 2 X 2 factorial design starting in the last trimester of pregnancy a nd continuing until 12 weeks post partum. Primary treatments were hous ing in straw yards or cubicles and secondary treatments were alternati ve complete diets given during lactation which differed in concentrate :forage ratio. A scoring system was developed for each of the foot le sions to allow statistical analysis of results. Locomotion scoring was carried out weekly. White line haemorrhages, sole haemorrhages and he el erosions were all present before calving. White line haemorrhages w ere exacerbated by housing in cubicle yards and alleviated by housing in straw yards (P < 0.001) with an interaction between diet and housin g around calving (P < 0.05). Sole haemorrhages were exacerbated both b y housing in cubicle yards (P < 0.01) and the high concentrate diet (P < 0.01) with an interaction between diet and housing around calving ( P < 0.05). Heel erosions were exacerbated (P < 0.05) by housing in str aw yards but not affected by diet. Sole haemorrhage and heel erosion s cores generally increased during early lactation (P < 0.001) independe nt of the treatments. There was evidence that these foot lesions were not caused by laminitis. There was a higher incidence of lameness for heifers given the high concentrate diet but no correlation between loc omotion score and the type of lesion or lesion score.