By Dayna Locitzer, DVM
Hoof health is one of the most important aspects of dairy cow health, especially organic dairy cows. The longevity of a cow on an organic dairy farm is dependent on her long term hoof health. Cows rely on their feet to get them to and from pasture, walk to their food, get to water, stand during milking. A lame cow has lasting consequences. She will not be able to do her daily tasks, leading to decreased food and water intake. She will likely not show heats and if you have a bull, she certainly won’t stand for him. This in turn leads to decreased milk production and decreased fertility. Making sure you attend to the hoof health on your farm is integral to animal welfare as well as efficient production of milk.
One of the most important but often overlooked aspects of hoof health is ensuring that your cows get proper lying time. Cows should ideally have 12-14 hours of lying time. This gives them ample time to give their feet a rest and focus on making milk. Imagine carrying around 1,400 lbs of weight every day? That is a lot of work. When cows are lying down blood flow can prioritize the rumen, uterus, and udder instead. Achieving proper lying time means giving the cows enough time, comfortable places, and protection from the elements for resting. For pasture based dairy cattle, lying time can be significantly affected by hot summer days when cows are bunched and standing. With that weather, we often see more hoof issues due to these heat abating behaviors. In the winter time, inadequate bedding and space will deter animals from lying down. Cows that lie down more make more milk, this is due to a number of factors but one of those is improved hoof health.
Nutrition is another factor in hoof health. This is a foundational element for dairy farming, and is foundational to good feet. One aspect of nutrition that is integral to get right is proper mineral balance. This can be challenging on organic dairies, especially ones that are low or no grain. Making sure your farm has a strategy for getting adequate minerals into your cow’s diet is vital. Take zinc for example: zinc is one of the most important minerals related to hoof health because it provides the hooves with their structural integrity. Having a zinc deficiency will negatively impact your hooves as well as many other health parameters.
A correction for the September Ask the Vet column, What pasture parasites do I need to worry about?,
The withhold time for Moxidectin is two days not 90, as had been reported.
Good nutrition and adequate lying time will only get you so far. Making sure your cows have good surfaces to walk on is one of the most pressing issues facing pasture based dairies. Organic dairy cows have to walk to and from pasture daily. The laneways they use must be dry and smooth. Walking through mud can create wet feet that will be breeding grounds for bad bacteria. Walking through laneways with lots of little stones can also be dangerous because those stones can get lodged in between their toes or in soft spots of their hooves. Another footing issue faced on pastured dairies is the area around the water trough. Those are high traffic areas as well. When the trough is in a wet spot in the pasture or the trough is leaking a treacherous mud pitt filled with wet ground and small rocks is created. I have lost my boot in that situation once or twice.
Hoof health is not only dependent on the conditions on the farm but it is also related to the cow’s genetics. Black hooves of Jerseys tend to have less problems then the white hooves of Holsteins. Cows with more vertical pasterns will be able to carry their weight better and wear down their hooves more appropriately. When a cow has pasterns that are dropped lower, she tends to wear her sole down more. Paying attention to feet and leg conformation when considering what heifers to keep will help the future hoof health of your herd.
Another valuable investment is building a good relationship with a hoof trimmer. Make sure every cow gets her hooves trimmed at least once a year. Hoof trimming should be used for more than just lame cows. All cows benefit from having their hooves maintained. Regular hoof trimming can help prevent issues before they become a problem. The hoof trimmer will also get a sense of what hoof lesions are seen commonly on your farm and can advise about management changes that are needed. Getting your cows hooves trimmed regularly will help prevent lameness and preserve the longevity of cows in your herd.
When problems do come up, get an accurate diagnosis. Knowing what lesions are common on your farm will help you make the management changes necessary to prevent them. The common lesions found on pastured dairies are ulcers/abscess, white line disease, overgrown claws, and hoof rot. Less common but very important to accurately diagnose is digital dermatitis (aka hairy heel wart). All of these lesions have unique treatments and stem from different environmental conditions. I can discuss these differences in a future article.
Prioritizing hoof health will provide the farm with many benefits: more milk, better fertility, longevity in the herd, and improved animal welfare. Hoof health is multi-factorial. We see factors that relate to the environment, the farmer’s decisions, and the cow herself. Taking all these into consideration will help you achieve those benefits.
Dr. Dayna Locitzer has over 10 years of experience working with pasture-based dairies in the Northeast. She worked on organic dairy farms in the Hudson Valley of New York for six years before starting vet school. After veterinary school, Dr. Locitzer spent four years in the Brattleboro, Vermont area serving the small dairies in that region. She recently moved back to the Hudson Valley to join Columbia Veterinary Services in Hudson, NY where she works exclusively as a farm animal veterinarian.
Do you have a question for Dr. Locitzer, or an area you’d like her to focus on in future issue? Please send them to the NODPA News editor, noraowens@comcast.net or call her at 413-772-0444 and she will share them with her.
Posted: to Organic Production on Sat, Nov 15, 2025
Updated: Sun, Nov 16, 2025
