Lameness support has been stepped up across Wales, with dairy farmers now having more access to advice due to an increase in the number of trained experts.
Vets from 31 practices have recently qualified as 'mobility mentors' to deliver AHDB’s Healthy Feet programme, taking the total to 42 across Wales.
Lameness is a significant industry issue with the average cost of treatment at around £180 per cow, or £15,000 a year for the average herd.
Proactive management of the condition is seen as the best way to reduce instances and subsequent costs.
The initiative is part of a package of support under the Dairy Improvement Programme, funded by Welsh government and the European Union.
Delyth Lewis-Jones, AHDB head of dairy development Wales, said that without trained deliverers the ability to address such a large industry issue was 'very limited'.
“Delivering wide-scale training for vets across Wales is a major step forward in tackling dairy herd lameness," she said.
The Healthy Feet programme offers farmers a way to diagnose and develop plans to control lameness by working with ‘mobility mentors’ who act as one-to-one advisors.
Vet Sara Pederson, who delivered the training, said: “There has been a real sense of this being a ‘team effort’ in tackling lameness in the Welsh dairy herd.
"The training has also given us the opportunity to engage and enthuse vets who may not previously have sought to become a mobility mentor."
