13 September 2023
By: Carien Kruger
Three months of almost uninterrupted rain in the Southern Cape have led to the worst hoof problems in dairy cows in more than 20 years.
WARNING: Some of the photos in this report may upset sensitive readers.
A farmer in the Southern Cape is aware of smaller herds losing up to 50 cows and farmers with larger herds having to slaughter up to 250.
In some of the herds, up to a quarter of the cows were lame at times, although not all of these animals were necessarily slaughtered.
Dr Riaan Putter, a production animal veterinarian from George, says the situation in the region from May to August was unprecedented. “It was terrible to see. The poor cows suffered greatly. They were in pain and discomfort and struggled to walk.”
These are the worst conditions he has experienced in his 20 years as a veterinarian in the region. “The entire Southern Cape had a lot of difficulty. It was a terribly wet winter. We had continuous heavy rain.”
Wessel Serfontein, from Trimco, says the hoof problems were the worst he has seen in his 17 years as a farrier. In June, he asked Deter Janse van Rensburg from SA Agri Pro in KwaZulu-Natal to help him with the workload. He was supposed to help for two weeks but ended up staying for two months.
“There are farmers who have been milking for 40 years who told me they have never seen it this bad,” says Serfontein
Hooves stay wet
Putter says the cattle’s feet were constantly wet, which prevented the horn part of the hooves from drying out. This caused the hooves, especially the sole parts, to become very soft.
“Along with this, the cattle paths suffered significant damage due to the rain. Much of the ground washed away, leaving gravel and rocks on top.”
Putter says farmers struggled to repair paths due to the wet weather. “The poor cattle had to walk to the milking sheds twice a day on the flooded paths. They were tired and disheartened after ploughing through the mud.
“Even cows’ udder health suffers in such conditions. When they have to walk knee-deep in mud, the teats also pass through the mud, making it difficult to keep them clean and hygienic. This makes them more prone to mastitis.”
<caption> A cow with one injured hoof and a hoof block on the other. Photo: Wessel Serfontein
Soft soles were defenceless
However, the cows’ hooves were the biggest problem. “When a cow with very soft soles has to walk on such a slippery path, it’s a recipe for trouble,” says Putter.
“You could feel with your finger how soft the hooves had become. Such soft hooves easily bruise. They also get easily penetrated by anything sharp like a pebble, which can create a hole in the sole, causing pain or bruising. This then leads to infection in the sole, and the infection can move up into the hoof.”
Putter says this condition leads to white line disease. The so-called white line is where the living tissue of the hoof connects to the hard horn part. Blood supply here is poor, and antibiotics make no difference.
The infection can further progress into the hoof joints, where there is also poor blood supply. Antibiotics make no difference here either and the infection can damage cartilage. “You can’t save hooves like that, and you end up losing those animals.”
When the sole wall has been penetrated, a sole abscess can develop, says Putter. Another problem is that the bones in the cow’s toe can rotate and press through the sole. “Something like that is irreparable,” says Putter.
When more than one leg of a cow is affected, or more than one claw on the same foot, the only option is to take the weight off the affected leg.
“When only one leg is affected, farriers attach a wooden block under the healthy claw so the affected claw doesn’t touch the ground – it’s almost like putting a high-heeled shoe on the cow. This helps a lot because it takes the pressure off the affected claw, allowing it to heal.”
Putter says many farmers initially thought their cow’s hoof problems were foot rot and administered large quantities of antibiotics.
“Foot rot is a bacterial infection that occurs from time to time and is more common when it’s wet and muddy,” he says.
“However, this year the situation was very different. We saw very little foot rot and a lot more sole injuries, abscesses and bruises. Antibiotics won’t help with this. A farrier’s attention is needed in such cases.”
Serfontein blames those who gave farmers incorrect advice and prescribed large quantities of antibiotics that couldn’t solve the problem.
“Sometimes I would arrive at a farm and could see that the cows had been injected with antibiotics, but it hadn’t helped. If I had worked on 40 to 50 cows with problems, I might have recommended antibiotics from a vet for two of them.”
Cows’ wellbeing comes first
Phillip Muller, a dairy farmer at Milkwood Farm outside George, says in his 27 years as a dairy farmer, May to July this year were the wettest months, and due to the cold, short winter days, everything stayed wet.
At the end of May, he noticed problems in his herd of about 280 cows. On his farm, cows have to walk unusually long distances – 6-10 km a day – between grazing and the barn, which is why he employs the services of a farrier every six weeks.
At the end of June, he had to cull 12 cows and dry off about 15. He then decided to prioritise the wellbeing of the cows and kept about 150 that were not walking well near the milking parlour, milking them only once a day and feeding them there instead of letting them walk to the further pastures twice a day.
He discussed this decision with his staff, and when Serfontein visited the herd he showed the workers how soft the cows’ hooves were. This helped staff understand the importance of keeping the mats clean and using enough formalin.
The decision to keep the problem cows closer and allow them to walk to the barn only once a day was also partly to relieve the pressure on the workers. “Everything took longer due to the muddy conditions.”
The cows in his herd usually produce an average of 19 litres of milk a day, but productivity declines in cows with sore hooves. “At the end of June, the herd average was 16 litres per day. The average of the group of 150 cows that weren’t walking well was 13 litres. When we started milking the group of cows only once a day, the group’s production dropped to 11 litres.”
Muller says it was more important for him to consider the wellbeing of his cows, rather than the loss of production and the cost of, among other things, 50 tons of lucerne at R5,200 per ton delivered to the farm.
He is grateful that he had access to the advice of Serfontein, Putter and Professor Robin Meeske, a nutritionist from the Outeniqua Research Farm of the Western Cape Department of Agriculture.
The cows that were kept near the barn gradually recovered, allowing them to rejoin the cows that walked to the pasture and were milked twice a day. By early September, the herd average had recovered to 19.2 litres per day.
Preventing soft soles
Putter says the best thing dairy farmers can do in such extremely wet conditions is to use something that hardens the cows’ hooves so they don’t bruise as easily.
“The typical solution is to put out hoof mats that have been treated with formalin, and the cows walk on them. The formalin dries out and hardens the hooves.”
Lame cows should receive attention from a farrier as soon as possible to determine whether it’s necessary to drain abscesses or attach wooden blocks, among other treatments.
Putter says the farmers who had the fewest problems were those who started using hoof mats with formalin early on.
Farmers who only used antibiotics or similar medications suffered significant damage because they had to cull their cows.
Serfontein believes farmers who regularly have their cows’ hooves trimmed – approximately annually for cows on pasture and more frequently in other circumstances – were better prepared for the challenging conditions.
“I think there could be twice as many farriers if farmers realised the benefits.”
Farmers who used mats and formalin saw rapid improvement in their cows, but Serfontein emphasises that proper management is crucial. Enough formalin should be used, and mats must should be cleaned after 100 cows have walked on them.
