Comparison of bandaging and elevation of the claw for the treatment of foot lameness in dairy cows

Objective
To compare the effectiveness of three treatments for sole injuries in dairy cows and to evaluate the ease and speed of applying the treatments.
Design
A randomised clinical trial.
Procedure
The three forms of treatment were elevating the affected claw of a lame cow with a wooden block glued to the unaffected claw (39 cows), elevating the affected claw with a rubberised shoe glued to the unaffected claw (42 cows) or applying a padded bandage to the whole foot of a lame cow (31 cows).
Results
the percentages of cows that recovered from lameness at 3 and 7 days after treatment were significantly higher for cows treated with wooden blocks (P = 0.013 and P = 0.008) or rubberised shoes (P = 0.026 and P = 0.0003) than padded bandages. Cows treated with blocks had a recovery rate of 48.7% at day three and 65.8% at day seven, and cows treated with rubberised shoes, rates of 45.2% and 76.2%, respectively. Cows which had a bandage applied to the foot had recovery rates of 19.4% at day three and 32.3% at day seven. However, by day 14, there was no significant difference in recovery rate between the three treatments. Rubberised shoes were shown to offer a number of advantages over wooden blocks. The shoes were significantly quicker to attach than blocks (median of 9.5 minutes compared with 14.0 minutes, P < 0.0001) and remained on the claw longer (57.1% of rubberised shoes remained at 30 days compared to 30.8% of blocks, P = 0.025). The rubberised shoes also offered an advantage over wooden blocks for operator safety and health by reduing contact between the potantially hazardous adhesive used to attach both devices and the skin of the person applying the device.
Conclusions
Rubberised shoes are a superior method of elevating an affected claw in conditions of lameness likely to respond to removal of weightbearing forces.