The new parlor added two hours of standing

A 400-cow freestall added a double parlor and stacked groups in a longer hold. Milk per hour looked great. Twelve weeks later the trim list filled with thin soles and white-line separations on the outside hind claws.

Merck’s overview would have pointed at the foot and the surface first. The stall beds had not changed. The dose of concrete had.

They split the hold, added a return waterer so cows did not queue, and moved the lame group to the shortest lockup. New ulcers slowed. Old ones still needed the chute — lesions lag the standing clock.