He said: "Lameness has been identified as a key welfare problem with implications for both farm profitability and quality assurance and the need for early action. Bristol specialises in welfare issues and the science can be described as the basis on which we establish more and legal standards for the care of animals.

"It is now possible to define the physical, and to some extent, the mental, suffering associated with many forms of welfare compromise, including lameness in dairy cows."

In 2002, Bristol launched an intervention study involving 60 dairy farms interested in reducing the incidence of lameness. The research focussed on dairy heifers as the evidence pointed to this being the group that underwent the greatest deterioration in foot health in most herds. Farm specific interventions were conducted through herd health planning programmes.

Bell commented: "The project had success stories, but was challenged by the widespread negative opinion associated with herd health planning and the variability of partnerships between farmers and the local vet.

"Other issue which we encountered were the inconsistencies with which the severity of lameness is defined, the questionable value of benchmarking without quality support."

With milk prices at a very low level, producer margins are slender, if not non-existent. Farmers clearly are striving to cut costs and many large animal vet practices have noted that they are being called out less frequently and are also having to wait longer to have bills settled.

Source: The Scotsman