VIDEOS
STRIDE LAUNCH EVENT
Our Stride launch event in London with speakers Paul Tompkins and Matt Dobbs.​
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Wednesday 5th June 2024
THE STRIDE SERIES
​1 Allocating responsibilities
Improving mobility is a complex challenge with numerous interactions including nutrition, genetics, housing, diagnostics, and actions to treat problems. With this in mind, clear allocation of responsibilities for managing hoofhealth issues and having a relevant plan are vital to making sustained improvements in mobility.
2 Whole Herd Management
While treatment for lameness is an individual cow issue, prevention of mobility issues and compromised foot health is predominantly a herd level concern. Herd level actions taken to reduce the incidence of lameness will have a significant impact in reducing individual cow problems. For this reason, herd level approaches are important part of improving foot health over the long term.
3 The Importance of Individual Cows
Managing foot health to reduce the cost and consequence of poor mobility requires a holistic approach to both prevent and effectively treat issues as they occur. Prevention of mobility issues at a whole herd level is the sum of a positive approach to individual cows. How cows are managed over their lifetime will have an impact on their individual mobility. Routine preventative and prompt treatment are key in maintaining good foot health for each cow.
4 Managing Hoof Infections
Infectious foot conditions remain a major cause of compromised foot health and poor mobility in dairy herds. Taking steps to reduce their incidence can have a significant impact on performance, health and welfare and unlike other lameness conditions, they provide an opportunity to achieve quick results. The 2024 Stride National Mobility Survey confirmed that producers identified digital dermatitis as the most widespread cause of reduced mobility and foot problems in their dairy herds, while foul is a lesser but still common problem.
​5 Invest for better mobility
Many farms approach poor cow mobility as an un-budgeted cost, only addressing problems reactively. However, reducing lameness can only be addressed by making the right long term decisions and investing in the right technology, management and building improvements to address the specific problems. Once the extent of the problem has been recorded and key causes of lameness identified, setting a budget will
ensure the problem is addressed to deliver the best return on investment.