Resumen

GARCIA B, Dionel et al. Foot lesions findings during the functional claw trimming at the dry off period in confinement dairy cows. Rev. Cient. (Maracaibo) [online]. 2006, vol.16, n.5, pp.517-522. ISSN 0798-2259.

The objective of this research was to describe the foot lesions found during the functional trimming at the dry off period of confinement dairy cows. Twenty five Brown Swiss cows were submitted to a hooves examination during the functional trimming at the dry off period. All the foot lesions were recorded on cards designed for this purpose. The results reported that 39% of the claws showed lesions during the functional trimming and also it was determined that the most frequent foot lesion were hemorrhage (39.8%), white line disease (23.7%) and horn overgrowth (20.4%). Also it was determined that 78.4% of the injuries were in the hind limbs and 21.6% were in the forelimb. Based upon these results it was determined that they were statistically significantly differences (P < 0.05). The foot lesions distribution was as follow: in the hind limb 68.1% of the pathologies were at the lateral digit, while 31.9% of the lesions were located at the medial digit. On the contrary, in the forelimbs 58.4% of lesions were in the medial claw and 41.6% were in the lateral claw. Statistically significantly differences were not observed (P > 0.05) in these results. It may be concluded that the majority of lesions were found in the lateral claw of the hind limbs. Also it was observed that the limbs reach the dry off period in very bad conditions reflecting feet conditions at the delivery time and during the first month of lactation. This condition could cause foot diseases within this period in which dairy cows are highly productive

Palabras clave : Lameness; lesions; bovine; functional trimming.