Lameness monitoring in dairy cattle uses a combination of locomotion scoring, technology and management practices to identify and treat affected animals early for best welfare outcomes.
Lameness monitoring is a welfare intervention with both identification and accountability functions. Farmers who systematically monitor locomotion find more lame cows, treat them earlier and achieve better welfare outcomes — and the monitoring data makes it difficult to dismiss lameness as inevitable or acceptable. Technology that provides objective, continuous lameness assessment removes the human bias toward normalising gradually developing lameness. The combination of technology and training creates the conditions for lameness to be recognised as the welfare priority it genuinely is.