Scoring cards for the dairy: hygiene, locomotion and body condition
Most welfare and herd-health assessments rely on a handful of scores that anyone can learn to take with a clipboard and a little practice: how clean the cows are, how they walk and how much body fat they carry. Each uses a short numbered scale with pictures or descriptions. Taken regularly by the same person, they turn impressions into numbers that can be tracked over time. This page explains the three most common ones and how to use them; it complements our overview of on-farm welfare evaluation.
Before you start: sampling and consistency
Scores can only be tracked over time if they are taken the same way each time. A few rules make a large difference:
- Same scorer, same moment. Score at the same point in the routine — for example, as cows leave the parlour after milking — and, ideally, have the same person do it each time.
- Enough cows. In a large herd, a random sample of each pen is fine, but it should be large enough that one or two unusual cows do not swing the result. Many advisers suggest scoring every cow in smaller herds and a fixed share of each group in larger ones.
- Record by group. Fresh cows, high producers, late lactation and dry cows have different targets. Averages for the whole herd hide the problems that matter.
- Calibrate. Two people scoring the same cows independently and then checking where they disagree is the quickest way to catch drift.
Hygiene scoring
Hygiene scoring rates how much manure is on a cow's lower legs, upper legs and flank, and udder, usually on a four-point scale from 1 (clean) to 4 (heavily soiled, with caked manure). Researchers at the University of Wisconsin popularised the method in the 2000s, and studies since then have linked dirtier udders and legs with higher somatic cell counts and a greater risk of environmental mastitis.
Hygiene scores are, above all, a test of the housing. Dirty lower legs usually point to alleys that are not scraped or flushed often enough; dirty udders and upper legs point to stalls or bedded packs that are wet or not maintained. Because the score reacts quickly, it is a good way to check whether a change in bedding, scraping frequency or stall maintenance has worked within a few weeks.
Locomotion scoring
Lameness is one of the most common and most costly welfare problems on dairies: lame cows lie down and eat differently, produce less milk and are more likely to be culled. Locomotion scoring detects it early, often before a cow is obviously limping.
The most widely used scale, published by Sprecher, Hostetler and Kaneene in 1997, has five levels and is based mainly on the posture of the back:
| Score | Description |
|---|---|
| 1 — Normal | Back level when standing and walking; normal stride. |
| 2 — Mildly lame | Back level when standing but arched when walking; gait slightly abnormal. |
| 3 — Moderately lame | Back arched both standing and walking; short strides with one or more legs. |
| 4 — Lame | Arched back; the cow favours one or more limbs but still bears some weight on them. |
| 5 — Severely lame | Arched back; the cow refuses to bear weight on a limb. |
Cows are watched walking on a flat, non-slippery surface, ideally from the side and in a straight line. A herd's result is usually summarised as the share of cows scoring 3 or more. Any cow at 4 or 5 should be examined and treated promptly; a rising share at 2 and 3 is the signal to look at the hoof-trimming schedule, footbaths, standing time on concrete, stall comfort and alley surfaces with the hoof trimmer and veterinarian.
Body condition scoring
Body condition scoring estimates the energy reserves a cow carries as fat. The scale used in most North American dairies runs from 1 (emaciated) to 5 (obese) in quarter-point steps; a widely cited reference chart for Holsteins was published by Edmonson and colleagues in 1989. The scorer looks at, and if needed feels, the areas where fat cover changes most visibly: the spine, the short ribs, the hooks and pins, the tailhead and the thurl.
What matters most is not a single number but the change through the lactation cycle. A cow loses condition in early lactation, when milk production rises faster than she can eat, and regains it later. Large losses after calving are associated with metabolic disease and poorer fertility; cows that are too fat at calving are more prone to difficult births and fatty liver. Many advisers aim for cows to calve at a moderate score, lose no more than about half to three-quarters of a point in early lactation, and regain it before dry-off. The exact targets for a herd are best set with its nutritionist and veterinarian.
Turning scores into decisions
A scoring session is useful only if its results are set against the last one and acted on. A simple sheet with one line per group and one column per date — share of cows lame, share with dirty udders, average body condition and its spread — is enough to see trends. When a number moves in the wrong direction, look for the cause in the environment and the routine before blaming individual cows.
Scores support, but do not replace, the judgment of a veterinarian. A lame or thin cow is a cow to examine, not just a data point.
Sources
- Sprecher D. J., Hostetler D. E., Kaneene J. B., "A lameness scoring system that uses posture and gait to predict dairy cattle reproductive performance", Theriogenology 47 (1997): 1179–1187.
- Edmonson A. J., Lean I. J., Weaver L. D., Farver T., Webster G., "A body condition scoring chart for Holstein dairy cows", Journal of Dairy Science 72 (1989): 68–78.
- Reneau J. K., Seykora A. J., Heins B. J., Endres M. I., Farnsworth R. J., Bey R. F., "Association between hygiene scores and somatic cell scores in dairy cattle", Journal of the American Veterinary Medical Association 227 (2005): 1297–1301.
- National Dairy FARM Program, Animal Care standards, which include animal observations of locomotion, body condition and hygiene.