Prevalence and risk factors of lameness in dairy cattle in Alexandria, Egypt

  • Amr M. A. Rashad Animal Production Department, Faculty of Agriculture (El-Shatby), Alexandria University, Alexandria 22545 http://orcid.org/0000-0002-2588-9542
  • Ahmed A. Kohla Animal Production Department, Faculty of Agriculture (El-Shatby), Alexandria University, Alexandria 22545
  • Mahmoud A. Aziz Animal Production Department, Faculty of Agriculture (El-Shatby), Alexandria University, Alexandria 22545
  • Dalia K. A. EL-Hedainy Animal Production Department, Faculty of Agriculture (El-Shatby), Alexandria University, Alexandria 22545
Keywords: Kaplan-Meier, dairy cows, performance

Abstract

  Aim of study: Providing further information on the prevalence of lameness in four dairy cattle herds and gain insights into the risk factors associated with the frequency of lameness incidence including farm, frequency of mastitis, and number of lactations.

  Area of study: Alexandria, Egypt.

  Material and methods: Four dairy Holstein cattle farms near Alexandria Governorate in Egypt were involved in a retrospective investigation of lameness episodes between the years 1987 and 2011. The association between the frequency of lameness injury and the explanatory variables was tested by the maximum likelihood analysis of variance, adopting a loglinear model. The explanatory variables included in the model were farm, frequency of mastitis injury and number of lactations as well as their one-way interactions.

  Main results: The prevalence of lameness ranged between zero and 19% in the four farms and the frequency of lameness events (from 0 to 4 times) increased with lactation number and mastitis incidence with correlation coefficients of 0.15 and 0.12, respectively.

  Research highlights: Lameness is present in Egyptian dairy cow herds with highly variable prevalence and the risk increases with lactation number and mastitis.

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Published
2022-01-17
How to Cite
Rashad, A. M. A., Kohla, A. A., Aziz, M. A., & EL-Hedainy, D. K. A. (2022). Prevalence and risk factors of lameness in dairy cattle in Alexandria, Egypt. Spanish Journal of Agricultural Research, 20(1), e0501. Retrieved from https://sjar.revistas.csic.es/index.php/sjar/article/view/18245
Section
Animal health and welfare