Technological risks and clinical forms of lesions of the proximal pelvic limbs in cows during tethered/untethered confinement

Ensuring the welfare of cattle is an important factor in the optimal management of intensive production. Important components of the well-being of cows are ensuring proper conditions of detention, including high-quality stall floors in the premises, since the improper condition of the latter leads to the emergence and development of diseases of the limbs in animals, decrease in milk productivity and even their premature culling. The article reflects the results of an examination of a dairy farm, on which a significant number of primiparous cows developed various diseases of the proximal pelvic limbs during the first 2–4 weeks after calving, in particular purulent lesions of the lateral bursa of the hock joint (48.5% of animals), including 55.1% of them with phlegmon of the lower leg and 5.9% with a thigh abscess. The diseases occurred after the heifers were transferred from loose housing on deep bedding to the maternity ward for tethered housing. In cows of older age groups (2–5 lactations), the disease was recorded in only 8.9% of cases, of which 22.2% were complicated by shin phlegmon and hip abscess (in 8.3% of animals). When examining the livestock, bedsores and ulcers were found on the lateral surface of the hock, knee and hip joints (in 94.6% of cows), lateral hock bursitis (in 28.1%), redness and coarsening of the skin of the outer surface of the shin, thigh and posterior lower abdominal wall (12.1%), shins phleg mon (0.8%) and hips abscess (0.4%). It was found that the cows were kept tied on a concrete floor, the surface of which was constantly in an unsatisfactory sanitary and hygienic condition, as well as an insufficient amount or complete absence of chopped straw bedding. In most animals, lying on a dirty and hard concrete floor during rest led to the appearance of bedsores in the places of bone protrusions of the joints with their subsequent maceration, infection and development of ulcers, lateral bursitis of the hock joint, phlegmon of the shin and abscess of the thigh. Key words: cows, stall floor, bedding, bedsore, ulcer, lateral bursitis of the hock joint, phlegmon of the shin, abscess of the thigh.