The costs of these problems could be asmuch as
€ 210 a cowa year. (Green andMuelling, 2005).
There are, therefore, plenty of reasons to prevent
these problems. Nutrition plays an important part
in improving lameness and hoof problems.
For example, it is important to introduce changes
in the ration gradually and avoid high levels
of concentrate without adequate fbre and
roughage. Addition of vitamins andminerals is
often essential to prevent hoof problems.
Buffering
Often, hoof problems like laminitis and sole ulcers
are causedby sub-clinical rumen acidosis (SARA).
Rumen acidosis occurs onmany farms. Research
by Plaizier et al. (2008) revealed that 19%of cows
in early lactation and 26%of cows inmid lactation
suffered from SARA. Hoof problems are caused
by, among other things, the production of
endotoxins from bacteria in the rumen. These
endotoxins affect blood vessels in the hoofs
and cause infections (Nocek, 1997). Stabilising
the rumen pH by using buffering agents may
help to solve these problems. Provimi has
developed a widely active buffer,
Rupromin Balance. Rupromin Balance is a
mixture of various rawmaterials, differing
in solubility and acid binding capacity. The
product is fast and long-acting. It contains live
yeasts that promote the conversion of lactate
into propionate, improving rumen conditions.
The buffering capacity of Rupromin Balance,
compared to sodium bicarbonate from saliva, is
shown in Figure 1.
Healthy rumen, healthy hoofs!
Hoof problems occur ondairy farms three timesmore often than the farmer
estimates (Espejo et al., 2006;Ward et al., 2008).White line disorder is a particular
problemaccording to research and is estimated to occur on85%of Dutch farms in
an average of 9%of the cows. Between 15%and20%of cows are culledbecause of
lameness causedby hoof problems. (Ward et al., 2008; USDA, 2007).