Lameness affects millions of dairy and beef cattle globally, causing chronic pain that is often underdetected and undertreated despite effective interventions being available.
Dairy cow lameness is among the most prevalent and most preventable welfare problems in agriculture. A lame cow walking on an infected foot experiences chronic pain that affects every aspect of her life - her ability to compete for feed, her reproductive success, her comfort at rest. The economic cost of lameness in milk production lost, treatment costs, and early culling makes lameness control an area where welfare and economics clearly align. Herd-level lameness prevalence is now recognized as a key welfare audit measure.