Variability of Manson and Leaver locomotion scores assigned to dairy cows by different observers
- A. J. Channon, BSc1,
- A. M. Walker, BSc1,
- T. Pfau, MEng, PhD1,
- I. M. Sheldon, BVSc, PhD, MRCVS1 and
- A. M. Wilson, BSc, BVMS, PhD, MRCVS1
- 1Structure and Motion Laboratory, Department of Veterinary Basic Sciences, Royal Veterinary College, Hatfield, Hertfordshire AL9 7TA
- E-mail for correspondence: a.channon{at}liverpool.ac.uk
Abstract
The gait scoring system developed by Manson and Leaver was used by five experienced observers to assess the gait of 83 milking Holstein-Friesian cows in a live recording session, and video recordings were made. The agreement between the scores of the observers at the live session, and between each observer’s scores at the live session and a video session, were compared at three levels of stringency. The scores of the observers were highly variable at all but the least stringent threshold – whether a cow had a score of less than 3 or 3 or more, that is, whether it was not lame or lame.
Footnotes
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↵Mr Channon’s present address is Department of Human Anatomy and Cell Biology, University of Liverpool, Ashton Street, Liverpool L69 3GE
- British Veterinary Association. All rights reserved.
