Lameness in dairy cattle in the scientific literature from 2000 to 2023: A text mining approach

Lameness in dairy cattle is a major animal welfare and economic concern in modern livestock production. We used computational text analysis to systematically analyze peer-reviewed abstracts related to dairy cattle lameness, published between 2000 and 2023, to identify key research themes and their evolution over time. Our analysis identified 6 interconnected research domains: etiology and epidemiology, detection and assessment methods, treatment and prevention strategies, welfare and economic impacts, farmer awareness and behavior, and technological innovation and application. Across the time period included in our analysis, there was a growing research emphasis on welfare/economics and automated detection systems, with decreased focus on pathology. However, throughout this period, lameness research was predominantly focused on European and North American systems, with studies originating from many other major milk-producing regions remaining limited. Our findings emphasize the need for more balanced, globally representative research efforts to effectively address this persistent challenge. This study provides a descriptive overview of research trends to help guide future scientific priorities and highlights publication disparities across diverse dairy production systems.