How beef-specific foot health focus cut herd’s lameness risk

An on-farm review has enabled beef farmers Jonathan and Delyth Crimes to prioritise areas that will benefit foot health, resulting in easier day-to-day management and a 90% reduction in antibiotics use for lameness.

At the start of the year, the Crimeses signed up as the pilot farm for the Welsh Government-funded Carnu Cadarn – Beefed Up Mobility Project.

The aim was to create a template to help beef farmers and vets identify specific lameness risk factors on-farm and rank areas for improvement.

This followed feedback from beef producers – including Jonathan and Delyth – who had identified lameness as an area of concern as part of the Sustainable Farming Scheme’s Animal Health Improvement Cycle pilot programme.

See also: Lameness in beef cattle: Effect, causes and treatment

Farm Facts Gafryw, Ceredigion

Jonathan Crimes © Richard Stanton

• 100ha of grassland
• 62 Stabiliser and Stabiliser-cross cows put to Stabiliser bulls
• Calving in a 12-week spring block.
• Youngstock sold as stores or finished, depending on the year
• Rotational grazing
• 140 ewes, mainly Torddu Badger Face Welsh Mountain

The project was run by vet Sara Pedersen of Farm Dynamics, in conjunction with the Crimeses’ vet, Frances Jones from Aeron Vets.

Sara believes there is a need for a beef-specific lameness template, given beef cattle face different challenges to dairy, and their feet are naturally bigger and tougher.

“What we tend to see is more chronic, end-stage lesions in comparison to dairy,” she says.

These challenges arise through several factors including difficulties with handling, lack of manpower and training, and issues finding qualified foot-trimmers for small numbers of cattle (see Tips for tackling beef lameness, below).

Mobility score results

The project started by mobility scoring cows at Gafryw, the Crimeses’ farm in Ceredigion.

This highlighted a lameness incidence of 14%, including 6% severely lame cows.

White line disease (WLD), which is linked to excessive forces through the feet from twisting and turning, and digital dermatitis (DD), caused by bacterial infection, were identified as the main foot health issues, together with overgrown feet.

This is in line with national figures and disease patterns.

Action Plan

Sara and Frances then walked the farm with the Crimeses to identify lameness pinch points and discuss the practicalities and realistic time frames for change.

The action plan includes:

More frequent foot-trimming

Traditionally a foot-trimmer visited the farm once a year, primarily to trim bulls ahead of breeding, with a few cows “chucked in” to make it worthwhile. This meant the feet of some cattle were becoming overgrown.

The aim now is to be more proactive in contacting the trimmer and booking two visits a year.

Jonathan is also bringing cattle into the crush more promptly to check and treat them himself, and will be signing up to do a beef foot-trimming course.

Pain relief and antibiotics will continue to be given as necessary.

Bull being foot-trimmed © Jon Crimes

Fitting of straw retainer in loose housing

A straw retainer has been installed between the straw bedding area and feed passageway in the straw yard to make it easier to scrape and reduce straw use.

This has lowered slurry exposure to the feet, which should reduce DD.

New concrete has been laid around the handling facilities © Jon Crimes

Repairs to concrete flooring

Drainage has been improved and new concrete laid in the handling area.

This has made handling easier and reduced the risk of WLD and injury. It has also helped TB testing to run more quickly and smoothly.

Revised layout of calving pens

The layout of the calving shed was questioned by Sara and Frances during the assessment.

To improve efficiency, the plan is to knock out a central wall and rotate the pens to create larger ones with better feed access.

This should make it easier to move and observe cows.

the feed rail has been raised to prevent stretching © Jon Crimes

Adjustment to feed rail

Cows were found to be stretching for feed in one shed, putting pressure on front feet.

The feed rail has subsequently been raised, which has lowered the risk of WLD and helped intakes.

Reduction in stocking density

Stocking densities have been reduced in one of the buildings by making use of an additional (existing) shed.

This has eased slurry pressure and competition at the feed barrier, reducing the risk of WLD.

Improvements to guttering

Poor guttering at one end of a shed made one pen prone to flooding and was not in use.

This increased stocking densities in the rest of the building, increasing the risk of WLD. The wet conditions were also ideal for DD.

The guttering has subsequently been fixed and there are plans to reconfigure the shed and move the feed barrier.

This will increase available space and ease handling and scraping.

It is too early to gauge improvements in mobility score.

However, antibiotics use for lameness has dropped, with just one animal treated in the first half of 2025, compared with 10 for the same period in 2024.

Jonathan – who also works as a farm consultant – says the changes – which will total £10,000 – will also translate into easier management.

“Longer term, it will save me time in routine work, which means I can actually focus more on picking cows’ feet up, doing better record keeping and probably a bit more farm maintenance,” he says.