As winter approaches, the downside of housing cows appears again. One of the perennial problems is lameness. This is a major cost to the herd due to: reduced production from lame cows; labour and veterinary costs associated with treatment; welfare costs of suffering cows. Estimates of losses vary, but were put as high as 19 million pound in the national herd in the early 1990s. This equated to 32 pound a year for every cow in the herd, a figure which is likely to be considerably higher now.
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