Relation between observed locomotion traits and locomotion score in dairy cows》.pdf

J. Dairy Sci. 98:1–11 /10.3168/jds.2014-9059 © American Dairy Science Association® , 2015. Relation between observed locomotion traits and locomotion score in dairy cows 1 Andrés Schlageter-Tello,* Eddie A. M. Bokkers,† Peter W. G. Groot Koerkamp,‡ Tom Van Hertem,§ Stefano Viazzi,§ Carlos E. B. Romanini,§ Ilan Halachmi,# Claudia Bahr,§ Daniël Berckmans,§ and Kees Lokhorst* *Wageningen UR Livestock Research, and †Animal Production Systems Group, Wageningen University, PO Box 338, 6700 AH, Wageningen, the Netherlands ‡Farm Technology Group, Wageningen University, PO Box 36, 6700 AA, Wageningen, the Netherlands §Division Measure, Model and Manage Bioresponses, Katholieke Universiteit Leuven, PO Box 2456, 3001 Heverlee, Belgium #Institute of Agricultural Engineering—Agricultural Research Organization, PO Box 6, Bet-Dagan 50250, Israel ABSTRACT to bear weight, 6.5 and 7.2 for asymmetric gait, and 4.8 and 3.2 for arched back, respectively. Raters showed Lameness is still an important problem in modern substantial variation in reliability and agreement val- dairy farming. Human observation of locomotion, by ues when scoring traits. The acceptance threshold for looking at different traits in one go, is used in practice overall intrarater reliability (κw ≥0.60) was exceeded to assess locomotion. The objectives of this article were by locomotion scoring and all traits. Overall interrater to determine which individual locomotion traits are reliability values ranged from κw = 0.53 for tracking up most related to locomotion scores in dairy cows, and to κw = 0.61 for reluctance to bear weight. Intrarater whether experienced raters are capable of scor