About Hoof Ailments
Economic loss due to hoof ailments is often underestimated.
Hoof ailments among cattle and sheep often have a variety of causes.
Besides housing, nutrition and hygiene, the performance level, breeding and the breed also play an important role.
In the first instance, we only see the immediate damage on the afflicted animal, but in reality, there is much more harm caused.
For example, milking cows with hoof ailments produce drastically less milk, fertility decreases (longer time lapse between calves) and there is greater risk of mastitis.
Furthermore, hoof ailments demand much more work and more treatment costs and are often the reason to remove the animal prematurely.
The economic damage caused by hoof ailments in the dairy industry, for example, can easily rise to 300 Euro per dairy cow per year.