Message from the Chair

On behalf of the Organizing Committee, I would like to express my sincere gratitude for your kind attention toward "Lameness in Ruminants 2019".

The history of the livestock industry in Japan is not so long, compared with that of Europe or the U.S. Therefore, the Japanese people have been carefully adopting overseas dairy farming, veterinary care and foot care technologies, with the Japanese unique climate taken into consideration, to form the present form of livestock after careful consideration. In recent years, lameness in dairy cows and fattened wagyu (Japanese cattle) has become a problem in Japan, just like overseas. Japanese people are getting more and more eager to learn insights and achievements of the advanced ruminants podiatry overseas. This is why we have decided to hold this international symposium in Asakusa, Tokyo in 2019. In addition, as the Olympic and Paralympic Games will be held in Tokyo in 2020, animal welfare has begun to attract attention in Japan from the standpoint of provision of livestock products to athletes. In this sense, we believe that it is very important in terms of development of veterinary medicine, enhancement of the foundation of dairy production, management of the agricultural production process for improvement of animal welfare and sustainable dairy production, and promotion of the good agricultural practice for us to attract the "International Conference on Lameness in Ruminants" and contribute to improvement of ruminants podiatry, which supports ruminants' feet.

The first of this international symposium was held in Utrecht, the Netherlands in 1976. We are going to hold the 20th in Japan, which is the memorable symposium. This is also the first symposium to be held in Asia. We are working very hard to prepare for this memorable event so that veterinarians, hoof trimmers, livestock producers and researchers and a wide variety of other stakeholders from all over the world may gather together and have a meaningful experience, exchanging current information and technologies concerning hooves. We are confident that the success of this event will lead to global development of ruminants podiatry.