Lameness is the third most important disease problem in dairy cattle and causes significant chronic pain affecting millions of cows worldwide. Understanding causes, prevention, and welfare implications is essential for improving dairy welfare.
Lameness causes chronic, often severe pain in dairy cows - research using pain scoring and analgesic trials confirms that lame cows experience significant ongoing discomfort. A cow with a sole ulcer or severe digital dermatitis must stand for most of her day on painful feet, often in wet, slurry-contaminated conditions that worsen the underlying pathology. The high prevalence of lameness across the industry - often 20-30% or more of cows - means this is not an exceptional welfare event but a near-universal feature of modern dairy farming. Importantly, lameness is highly preventable through improved housing design, routine foot care, and prompt treatment, and herds that prioritise these measures achieve prevalences below 5%.