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Project FEET
This project explores how the whole mobility team (farmers, foot trimmers, veterinary surgeons and veterinary technicians) perceive the pain associated with various lameness-causing conditions in cattle and make choices about managing these conditions, including when and whether to use NSAIDs.
Project FEET stands for ‘Furthering the Evidence-base on cow mobility by Engaging the whole Team’.
This project aimed to better understand attitudes towards recognising and treating pain among the whole mobility healthcare team and was founded and developed by the Mobility Clinical Interest Group at VetPartners led by Emily Craven, MRCVS. This work was funded by CEVA Animal Health and VetPartners.
This project which has generated some great data to help the health and welfare of lame dairy cows by working with vets, vet technicians, foot trimmers and farmers.
Dairy cow lameness is an important problem, affecting around 30% of the national herd. This is a significant welfare and production issue.
We wondered what different members of the on-farm mobility care team thought about how painful different conditions associated with dairy cow lameness might typically be. We also wanted to know how decisions were made about when to use non-steroidal anti-inflammatories to help manage pain in lame cows.
We distributed an online questionnaire between January-September 2021 for farmers, hoof trimmers, veterinary technicians and farm vets asking about how they assessed and treated lame cows with each of 16 different conditions.
Farmers told us that their cows' comfort was more important, and the cost of medicines less important than vets predicted when deciding whether to use NSAIDs.
We were thrilled to have the initial analysis published in the Vet Record in October 2023 and make the cover of the paper edition in March 2024! You can access this paper here:
We have since carried out additional analysis, looking in depth at the factors which impact how painful members of the team perceive different conditions are, and what influences when they decide to use NSAIDs.
We found that there was good awareness that these conditions are often painful amongst all members of the on-farm mobility team. However, vets were more likely to say they would provide NSAIDs than farmers for all conditions.
Interestingly, Digital Dermatitis (DD) was perceived by almost all respondents to be one of the most painful conditions, but cows with DD were given NSAIDs much less frequently than those with other, similarly-painful conditions. This work can be used to start conversations about why this might be, and to stimulate more use of pain relief in cows suffering from DD and the pain this causes.
Our second paper can be accessed here:
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To find out more about the work we do visit VetPartners Learning or email us at clinical.board@vetpartnersgroup.com
