Regular lameness scoring of dairy and beef cattle is a validated welfare assessment tool that enables early intervention, reducing pain duration and severity.
Lameness is one of the most painful and prevalent welfare conditions in dairy cattle. The welfare dividend from regular mobility scoring is enormous - each cow identified at early lameness and treated promptly has weeks of suffering prevented compared with cows identified only when severely affected. Embedding mobility scoring into routine farm management as a scheduled welfare KPI, not an emergency response, transforms herd welfare outcomes.