A proposed structural approach to improve cow-claw health on Dutch dairy farms

Comparing hoof dimensional measurements in cows based on 3D image creation and manual measurement

In this study, the accuracy of using 3D measurements from a 3D image creation application (3DICA) as a potential tool for measuring hoof dimensions in cattle was determined. Fifty distal limbs of cattle obtained from a slaughterhouse were included after the data was trimmed by the functional hoof trimming method. The lengths of six dimensional variables determined by manual measurements served as the true values. Then, the images of these hooves were captured with the 3DICA, and the same variables were determined by the measurement function in the 3DICA. A strong positive correlation was obtained between the 3D and manual measurements for five of the six points, and the mean difference was within 2 mm at all six points. However, the limits of agreement varied at three of the six points. In conclusion, compared with manual measurements, the 3D measurements provided approximately equivalent measurements for the hoof dimensions. However, these findings are preliminary, and further investigations are needed.

Changing interventions in farm animal health and welfare: A governmentality approach to the case of lameness

Lameness is a significant health and welfare issue in farmed animals. This paper uses a governmentality approach, which focuses on how a problem is made governable, to examine an emerging 'ecology of devices' introduced to intervene in, and attempt to reduce, on-farm incidence of lameness. These devices are associated with advisers who work with farmers on-farm; they enact lameness as a governable entity, are tools to assess the existence of lameness against established norms, and prescribe actions to be taken in response to evidence of lameness. In doing this they subjectify farmers and advisers into seeing and responding to lameness in particular ways. Using concepts of governmentality alongside other perspectives on the power relations and the simplifications and complexities involved in interventions in animal health and farm practice, the paper draws on in-depth research with advisers including vets and other paraprofessionals who work with farmers, and their cows and sheep. It explores how this set of devices introduces particular techniques and practices in lameness management, and produces farmer and adviser subjectivities. It then explores some of the problematics of this mode of governing lameness, including analysis of the limitations and unintended consequences of attempts to simplify lameness management. The paper concludes by arguing that its approach is valuable in analysing ongoing intensification of interventions in farming practices and in understanding the limits of such interventions and the unanticipated divergences from expected conduct.