Register of Mobility Scorers (RoMS) The economic and welfare costs of lameness are very significant As a result, many UK retailers and welfare assurance schemes require frequent mobility scoring Mobility scores are notoriously inaccurate and lack credibility

The aims of the RoMS Independent, self-regulatory body which encourages the widespread use of standardised, independent mobility scoring conducted by trained and accredited scorers on dairy farms The aims of the RoMS are: To improve the mobility of the UK national dairy herd by: Improving the quality and accuracy of mobility score data provided to producers and their agents. Providing standardised high quality data on the mobility of cows on UK dairy farms over time To be as inclusive of, and reactive to, the mobility scoring requirements of all key stake holders in the dairy supply chain.

How it will work Anyone can be on the RoMS after a day’s training (trainer must be accredited by founding committee) Application for Grandfather rights will be open from May 1st to July 1st for assessment by founding committee On line ‘exam/assessment’ to maintain score consistency carried out annually on line- this will be a series of video clips that need scoring. All scores must be submitted on the RoMS portal Must record the number of score 1,2 and 3 cows plus free text Scorers’ scores will be assessed annually to pick up anomalous trends Cost is likely to be £25/year

The RoMS Web Portal (www.roms.org.uk) Functions: Contact details of members Annual scorer assessment and reregistration via a login List recognised training providers and dates of courses they are providing Reciprocal links to other websites relating to foot health Repository of all scores completed by the members of the RoMS to generate farmer reports and have data available for analysis at different levels: National dataset which can be accessed by research institutions Individual scorer dataset to assess individual scorer performance and identify outliers for further training

Sponsors of www.roms.org.uk

Grandfather Rights Please contact: secretary@roms.org.uk for electronic applications forms. Paper versions of the application forms are available today