Locomotion as a new trait: first results from Denmark

Introduction Lameness has been identified as one of the most prominent disease complexes in cattle, causing welfare implications and considerable economic losses, and has therefore been under research for the last two decades. Locomotion – the way the cow moves forward – has been one of the traits which has received considerable attention. Compared to claw diseases, horn cell characteristics or pressure distribution, the trait is relatively easy to measure visually and is in line with other body conformation traits. When data are collected by field officers, a vast amount of data can be collected in a short time. Different scoring systems have been used, they have in common that they describe locomotion on a scale with several categories from complete lameness to perfect movement. Several countries have taken this trait up as an additional type trait to be assessed by field officers during their routine classification. In the UK, the trait has been part of the official type assessment for more than a decade; in other countries, it has been collected and genetically analysed on a research basis (e.g. Boettcher et al., 1998, van der Waaij et al., 2005). Denmark also introduced Locomotion as a research trait. Data collection started in 2004, by now the data set is large enough in order to estimate genetic parameters within breeds with an adequate reliability, and to draw some conclusions.