Most dairy cow lamenesses arise from diseases and
lesions of the hooves (Hess, 1904; Murray et al., 1996) – although hoof lesions in
many cases do not cause lameness. Many aspects of modern intensive dairy
production are likely to influence the hoof health of dairy cows and cause lesions
but (mostly due to the lack of reliable records) knowledge about the frequency of
hoof lesions and the importance of individual- and herd-level risk factors for the
development of lesions and lameness is insufficient.