If you’ve been around cows long enough, you know this truth: lameness never starts big. It creeps in quietly with one short step, a slight hitch in the stride or a cow that lags just a little longer than usual.
By the time lameness is obvious, the damage is already done with lost milk, poor reproductive performance, extra labor and often a cow that never quite gets back to where she was.
But there’s a new solution to help you stay ahead of lameness: SmartSight Locomotion Monitoring, powered by Nedap. SmartSight is helps you detect lameness sooner, act faster, and protect cow comfort and profitability without adding more work to your day.
Why Lameness Is a Bigger Deal Than You Might Think
Most farms estimate their lameness rate at around 5–10%. But when carefully tracked, many herds are closer to a 20–25% lameness rate. And up to 90% of cows will experience lameness at some point in their lifetime. And since lameness affects almost every vital function of a cow – walking, eating, lying down, showing heat and recovery – the costs add up fast.
On a 1,000-cow dairy with a 20% lameness incidence rate, lameness can cost*:
- $4.50 per cow per day
- $900 per day across the herd
- Over $328,000 per year
That's money lost through:
- Reduced milk production
- Lower fertility
- More treatments and trims
- Increased labor
- Earlier culling
The key takeaway? Waiting to treat lameness is expensive and there are long-term effects.
Cows treated early average 20 days lame while cows treated late average 60 days lame. On average, that early action can save you about $45 per cow per year.** Multiply that across your herd, and the value becomes clear.
Early action can shorten lameness significantly and put your herd on the right track with:
– Fewer severe lameness cases
– Faster recovery after trimming
– Fewer unnecessary trims
– Longer productive lives
– Preserved milk yield and fertility
– Lower treatment and labor costs
– Healthier, more comfortable cows
What is SmartSight Locomotion Monitoring?
SmartSight is an advanced, AI-driven technology that watches how every cow walks every milking. Instead of relying on someone’s eyes at the pen or parlor (which is tough, time consuming, and subjective), SmartSight uses technology to spot subtle gait changes long before you can see them. Know sooner. Treat faster. Stay ahead of lameness.
How Does SmartSight Locomotion Monitoring Work?
SmartSight follows a straightforward process that fits right into your normal routine.
Identify
SmartSight identifies cows as they move through the parlor entrance, exit lane or sort gate, using Nedap’s SmartID or by integrating an existing parlor ID.
Using another herd monitoring or management system? No problem. SmartSight works with any ISO ID, integrates with DairyComp and BoviSync, and connects with other leading herd management platforms, so you don’t have to switch systems to use it.
SCAN
The rugged top-view 3D camera is mounted overhead. As cows walk underneath, the camera scans body and movement patterns. It works at normal cow flow rates, with no extra handling needed.
ANALYZE
SmartSight’s AI-powered software analyzes the scan data and turns it into locomotion scores. All data is processed on farm (which keeps it private) and the system can score 1,000+ cows per hour!
REVIEW
These insights are available on the Nedap Now dashboard accessible on any of your devices:
- Lameness checks
- Recovery insights
- Locomotion scores
ACT
Now it’s your turn. You take action to make sure the cows that need attention receive it and those that don’t need simply keep on doing their thing!
Every step a cow takes tells a story. SmartSight listens to that story long before problems become visible and works quietly in the background while cows do what they do.
Talk with your GENEX representative or click here to see how SmartSight can fit into your dairy and help you take a more proactive approach to hoof health.
*Sources: Willshire et al. (2019), Thomsen et al. (2023). Full references available upon request.
**Results validated by Nedap through large-scale dairy data analysis: 9+ million locomotion scores from more than 25,000 cows across 20+ farms with SmartSight. All values mentioned represent measured averages. These figures should be interpreted as indicative rather than absolute. Nedap or GENEX cannot be held accountable for actual figures observed in practice, as many factors influence these outcomes. The financial impact may vary depending on the actual cost of lameness case and the incidence rate of lameness on each individual farm.