Digital dermatitis (Mortellaro disease) is a painful bacterial infection of the skin above and around the hoof in cattle, causing lameness and significant welfare harm if untreated.
Digital dermatitis causes severe acute pain during the active ulcerative phase — affected cattle shift weight, are reluctant to move, and show significant production losses from reduced feed intake. Pain assessment using locomotion scoring and sensitivity testing confirms the welfare impact. Effective treatment within 3 days of lesion onset prevents chronic progression and permanent tissue damage. Farms with high DD prevalence often have systemic hygiene or stocking issues that perpetuate transmission. Regular footbathing 2-3 times weekly, combined with routine locomotion scoring and individual lesion treatment, can reduce herd prevalence to below 5% from initial rates over 50%. Proactive programmes that detect and treat early-stage lesions — before the acutely painful M2 ulcerative stage — dramatically reduce animal suffering and have strong economic justification. Pain relief during treatment is increasingly recommended.