Dairy producers' awareness, perceptions, and barriers to early detection and treatment of lameness on dairy farms: A qualitative focus group study

Lameness is a common and painful condition, making it an important issue in the dairy industry. Whereas moderate and severe cases of lameness are likely to be noticed and dealt with by most dairy producers, mild cases are often overlooked. The barriers to implementing best management practices (BMP) to detect lameness are unknown. The objectives of this study were to understand awareness, perceptions, and barriers to implementation of established BMP for early detection and treatment of lameness of participant dairy farmers. In total, 35 dairy farmers from 2 regions of Ontario (southwestern [n = 3] and eastern [n = 3]) participated in 6 focus groups. Four themes were identified from the transcribed data: (1) perception and rationalization of lameness, (2) reconciling perceived effects and the ability to effect improvement, (3) assessment strategies, and (4) mild lameness detection challenges. Participants viewed the detection of lameness to be the responsibility of producers (i.e., themselves) and often disagreed with external assessors regarding the prevalence of lameness in their herds. They were unsure what the appropriate treatment was for mild lameness and questioned whether it had significant economic effects on their farms. Lameness assessments by producers occurred informally as participants performed other routine tasks. Some participants also reported using the interval between milkings in automatic milking systems as the primary lameness assessment method. Lack of training for employees and themselves, busy daily schedules, and continuously seeing the same cows were raised as important challenges to the detection of mild lameness. Our results suggest that participants viewed mild lameness detection and treatment a low priority with uncertain benefit. Greater recognition by dairy producers of the importance of early identification of lameness and improved access to effective treatment protocols will be needed to advance implementation of BMP for detection and treatment of nonsevere lameness.