The Importance of Record Keeping. Record keeping of feet is developing to help farmers and hoof trimmers be aware of the amount of lameness within the herd. The (ABC) scoring sheet was developed by an international committee to help identify lesions and problems those trimming the herds' feet could encounter even in sub-clinical situations, ie. laminitis.. It may be that the recording of foot health by trimmers can be incorporated in the Canadian National Health Project. www.canwestdhi.com Keeping track allows the farm to identify cows that encounter problems and how they were treated. This helps in post-operative care and review. Identifies animals that require more trimming than others and can show if the afflicted animals on the sheet are from a specific area of the barn, indicating maybe an environmental problem, feed or lactation period. Records are essential to establish the severity of a particular problem in a herd. Success can be gauged if the codes drop from 3 -1. Even though the same problem is there a few months later cow comfort has improved. Then the next step is to see if eradicating the problem can be achieved. Record keeping also can show where farm management can improve, ie. are the footbaths properly changed ever 150 cows? Are the alleys cleaned at correct times? Are the tie stalls dry and are the mats in good shape? All these considerations can be carefully looked at once the records show who and where the problems are. Then the herd as a whole can benefit by adopting required changes the records show. To print your own copy of this form: right click on the picture and choose the "PRINT PICTURE" option. For more information on scoring go to: Understanding Scoring Afflictions of the Foot.

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