About the author

Jan Hulsen grew up on a farm with dairy cattle and pigs. He began studying agricultural science and then switched to veterinary medicine. After three years working as a farm vet, he started to focus on education and consultancy. To that end, he became involved in journalism, marketing and business management.

With his company Vetvice, Jan developed the CowSignals® concept, and wrote the successful CowSignals books series.

Further information on the book

Contents

INTRODUCTION: Summary

• Anatomy underfoot and forces

SECTION ONE: Four succes factors for health hooves

• Hoof health is people work
• Success factor 1: Excellent quality hooves
• Success factor 2: Minimal Forces
• Success factor 3: No environment effects
• Success factor 4: Early and effective intervention
• Intervening in hoof problems

SECTION TWO: Day-to-day practice

• Introducing heifers: The no.1 high risk time
• Calving and the start of lactation
• Drying off and transition
• The tottal picture of hoof health
• Are the cows lying down enough?
• Surfaces, rest and space
• Drive calmly

SECTION THREE: The most common conditions

• Less common condition
• Hell horn erosion
• Digital dermatitis
• Interdigital growths
• Foul-in-the-foot
• Laminitis
• White line disease
• Sole ulcers and white line abscesses

SECTION FOUR: Hoof care and treatment

• Planning and organisation
• Functional pedicures
• Preventive foot bathing
• Function pedicures: The five-step plan
• Glueing a block
• Trestin horn lesions
• Intervention time: early or too late?
• Tips for a functional pedicure

SECTION FIVE: Monitoring

• Assessing the success factors
• Structured monitoring
• Assessing during milking
• Monitoring hoof health: scoring hoof conditions
• Record hoof data
• DairyCo mobility score
• Hoof score chart
• Dry and clean
• Inspection card for cubicle comfort
• Instructions for hoof bandage
• Checklist successful footbaths
• Treatment plan

INDEX

Delivery

This book weighs: 345g

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