Are there differences in dairy goats claws' temperature, before and after trimming?

Abstract

One of the major causes of lameness in intensive dairy goat farms is claws' overgrowth and deformation. These problems are thought to be painful but more studies are needed to assess the degree and extension of pain. The demand for more objective ways to assess pain is growing. Infrared thermography may be one of them. In our study ninety four dairy goats from the same pen were classified for claw deformation and overgrowth. Each claw was photographed with a thermography camera on day 0 (before trimming) and on the day 15 (15 days after trimming). The incidence of deformed claws was 45%. A significant difference between the temperature of the deformed (24.18° C) and the not deformed claws (20.77° C) on day 0 (p= 0.01) was shown. On day 15 there was no difference in claw temperature between both groups (p= 0.605). We concluded that overgrowth and deformation does cause deep inflammation that is detected by thermography, and that trimming reduces the severity of this condition.