Claw lesions in dairy cattle: methods for assessment of sole and white line lesions

Claw lesions are a major cause of lameness in dairy cattle. Analysis of the development of lesions is aided by numerical representation of their significance. Using data from observations on 31 heifers at 9 weeks post-calving, 5 lesion scoring method were compared. These were: (1) number of lesions; (2) severity; (3) adjusted severity; (4) size (measured by a novel technique involving image analysis of distal view photographs) and (5) size multiplied by adjusted severity (combined score). Relationships between scores for sole and white line lesions and between different claws within a cow were investigated. The small size but high clinical significance of severe lesions means that severity must be weighted if combined with size in a score. Sole and white line lesions showed a moderate but significant correlation in terms of severity but none in terms of size. The highest correlation between scores for a single claw (the right hind outer) and the remaining claws was found for adjusted severity of sole lesions.