Peer-reviewed veterinary case report
Reliability of a beef cattle locomotion scoring system for use in clinical practice.
- Journal:
- The Veterinary record
- Year:
- 2020
- Authors:
- Tunstall, Jay et al.
- Affiliation:
- Department of Livestock and One Health · United Kingdom
Plain-English summary
Researchers looked into a way to score how well beef cattle walk, which is important for identifying lameness (a condition where animals have trouble walking). They created a four-point scoring system and had a group of veterinary professionals and students watch videos of cattle walking to practice scoring. When they scored the same videos on different days, they mostly agreed on their scores, but there were some differences, especially for the lower scores that indicate mild issues. Overall, this scoring system seems to work well for identifying lameness in beef cattle, which could help with treatment and management, though some differences in scoring are expected.
Abstract
BACKGROUND: Locomotion (lameness) scoring has been used and studied in the dairy industry; however, to the authors' knowledge, there are no studies assessing the reliability of locomotion scoring systems when used with beef cattle. METHODS: A four-point scoring system was developed and beef cattle filmed walking on a firm surface. Eight veterinary researchers, eight clinicians and eight veterinary students were shown written descriptors of the scoring system and four video clips for training purposes, before being asked to score 40 video clips in a random order. Participants repeated this task 4 days later. RESULTS: The intra-observer agreement (the same person scoring on different days) was acceptable with weighted mean Kappa values of 0.84, 0.81 and 0.84 respectively for researchers, clinicians and students. The inter-observer agreement (different people scoring the same animal) was acceptable with weighted Gwet's Agreement Coefficient values of 0.70, 0.69 and 0.64 for researchers, clinicians and students. Most disagreement occurred over scores one (not lame but imperfect locomotion) and two (lame, but not severe). CONCLUSION: This scoring system has the potential to reliably score lameness in beef cattle and help facilitate lameness treatment and control; however, some disagreements will occur especially over scores one and two.
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Search related cases →Original publication: https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/32917837/