Locomotion scoring systems provide objective, standardised welfare assessment for dairy and beef cattle herds, enabling farm-level benchmarking and targeted intervention to reduce lameness prevalence.
Locomotion scoring provides the welfare data infrastructure that is fundamental to managing lameness at farm level. Without systematic scoring, mild-to-moderate lameness (Score 3) goes undetected and untreated — the score-3 cow may be left in the milking herd for weeks before her lameness becomes severe enough to notice casually. Monthly scoring programmes identify lame cows before moderate lameness progresses to severe, allowing earlier treatment when recovery is more likely. Farm-level lameness prevalence data enables benchmarking against industry targets and tracking of management intervention effectiveness. Farms that implement regular scoring with prompt treatment typically achieve lameness prevalence reductions of 50 percent or more within 12 months.