Digital Dermatitis in Dairy Cows: A Review of Risk Factors and Potential Sources of Between-Animal Variation in Susceptibility.
Authors: Palmer Maeve A, O'Connell Niamh E
Journal: Animals : an open access journal from MDPI
Summary
Digital dermatitis represents a significant welfare and economic challenge across the dairy industry, yet farms experience highly variable disease prevalence despite similar management practices, suggesting substantial individual animal susceptibility differences exist. Palmer and O'Connell's 2015 review synthesised literature on both farm-level and animal-level risk factors contributing to these variations, examining physical traits (hoof conformation, skin characteristics), physiological factors (immune response efficacy), and behavioural influences (cubicle usage patterns). The analysis reveals that while environmental and management factors clearly matter, considerable between-animal variation in DD susceptibility remains unexplained, indicating inherent biological or genetic differences in disease resistance. The authors identify a critical gap in understanding the heritability of DD susceptibility and how genetic variation for disease resistance correlates with production and health traits currently under selection in breeding programmes. For practitioners, this underscores the potential value of selective breeding for improved disease resistance as a complementary strategy to herd management interventions, though the authors stress that further research is essential to characterise the genetic architecture of DD susceptibility and establish whether current breeding objectives may inadvertently select for increased disease vulnerability.
Read the full abstract on PubMed
Practical Takeaways
- •Herd management strategies targeting hoof conformation and housing design (cubicle management) may reduce DD prevalence by addressing modifiable risk factors
- •Individual animal variation in DD susceptibility suggests potential for selective breeding to improve resistance, pending clarification of heritability estimates
- •Monitoring immune competence and skin integrity in individual animals could help identify those at higher risk and enable targeted preventive interventions
Key Findings
- •Digital dermatitis causes significant economic loss and welfare problems in dairy cattle across multiple countries
- •Wide variation in infection levels exists between farms and between individual animals on the same farm
- •Individual susceptibility to DD is influenced by physical factors (hoof conformation, skin properties), physiological factors (immune response efficacy), and behavioural factors (cubicle standing behaviour)
- •Heritability of DD susceptibility and its correlation with production and health traits requires further investigation to inform breeding programmes