‘
OPPOSITE LEFT Each cow should have access to one usable cubicle as cows are highly synchronised, lying down at similar times of the day.
ABOVE LEFT & RIGHT Dr Jenny Gibbons, DairyCo R&D manager and Nicky Fair, DairyCo extension officer and Cow Signals© trainer.
bedding. Lameness - and in particular claw horn disease - is common on farms with perching cows.
A sure tell-tale sign is shiny metal on the underside of the neck rail from cows rubbing against it. The purpose of the neck rail is to position the cow as she enters the cubicle and prevent her from standing too far forward and dunging on the back of her bed. Just moving the neck rail forward slightly can improve lying times. Cows lying diagonally, shiny partitions or cows lunging to the side, can all indicate that an obstruction is impeding the cow’s lunge space or the cubicle is too short. Check that the brisket board isn’t too high and there is enough space to lunge forward. Where possible, move or lower the brisket board and remove any obstructions in the lunge area.
Do your cows have hock injury? Hock injuries are another indicator of poor cow comfort. These injuries range from a small patch of hair loss to a large swelling with an open weeping wound. Research at the University of Nottingham has shown that 99% of cows on 77 herds had some form of hock injury. Nearly 90% suffered from hair loss, 12% had lesions and 100% had a degree of swelling on the hocks.
These injuries are caused when there is a thin layer of abrasive (eg coarse sawdust) or wet bedding over a hard or abrasive surface (eg mat or mattress). As a cow stands, the first thing she does is drag her back leg out from underneath her body, across the bed and, unless abundant soft bedding is used, injuries to the skin will occur. If more than 10% of your herd has hock injury, then consider increasing the amount of bedding used or change to a
less abrasive material or both. Check the comfort of the lying surface by rubbing it with the back of your hand to make sure it does not graze or cut your skin.
Lying surface is the most important aspect of cubicle comfort
Further information on dairy housing can be found in DairyCo’s ‘Dairy housing – a best practice guide’. The guide provides up-to-date information, covering both implementing new builds and adapting existing buildings. To order your copy, call the DairyCo publications line on 024 7647 8702 or visit:
www.dairyco.org.uk
’ Do your cows have enough bedding?
A growing body of research has demonstrated that the surface we provide for cows is the most important factor in designing a suitable lying area. Deep beds are the direction most farmers are heading or at least mattresses which offer high levels of support and traction. Deep sand has long been a firm favourite in the US and is widely accepted as the gold standard bedding material, primarily because it limits bacterial exposure to the teat end and provides cushion, traction and support for the cow during the standing and lying process.
From a survey of 176 herds in Wisconsin, sand-bedded herds carried a benefit of 3.2kg milk/cow/day and 1152kg rolling herd average milk. Sand bedded herds also had lower lameness (11% against 17%) and lower somatic cell counts (214,000 against 227,000). Deep bedded sand was by far the best at reducing hock lesions, while rubber mats were found to be the worst, with mattresses performing somewhere between the two. If your herd does lounge on sand bedding, maintaining sand so it is level to the curb will achieve optimum comfort. Bedding levels in deep-bedded cubicles decrease over days and lying time declines as the bedding material empties in the cubicle. Every inch decline decreases lying time by about half an hour a day. Sand bedding isn’t for everyone and cows housed on mattresses with a good coverage of bedding lie down for up to an hour longer a day compared with cows housed on hard rubber mats with little bedding. Lying time increases by 12 minutes for every additional 1kg of sawdust provided. This will come as no surprise, as it’s well documented that cows prefer softer surfaces and spend more time lying down in well-bedded cubicles than those with little or no bedding.
Sand and straw improves cubicle cleanliness compared with sawdust, but despite sawdust and straw beds registering higher bacteria counts than sand (the major pathogens associated with bedding materials being Streptococci, coliforms and Klebsiella), there has been no significant effect on somatic cell counts. Evidence on cow cleanliness is conflicting, with the cleaning regime more likely to have the biggest influence. Wet bedding reduces lying time more than any other feature of cubicle design or maintenance and significant reductions in lying time are seen when bedding drops under 60% dry matter. Cows prefer lying in dry cubicles and to achieve this, good ventilation and 2-3 times a day cleaning and topping up with fresh bedding is necessary.
THE JOURNAL OCTOBER 2014 97
Page 1 |
Page 2 |
Page 3 |
Page 4 |
Page 5 |
Page 6 |
Page 7 |
Page 8 |
Page 9 |
Page 10 |
Page 11 |
Page 12 |
Page 13 |
Page 14 |
Page 15 |
Page 16 |
Page 17 |
Page 18 |
Page 19 |
Page 20 |
Page 21 |
Page 22 |
Page 23 |
Page 24 |
Page 25 |
Page 26 |
Page 27 |
Page 28 |
Page 29 |
Page 30 |
Page 31 |
Page 32 |
Page 33 |
Page 34 |
Page 35 |
Page 36 |
Page 37 |
Page 38 |
Page 39 |
Page 40 |
Page 41 |
Page 42 |
Page 43 |
Page 44 |
Page 45 |
Page 46 |
Page 47 |
Page 48 |
Page 49 |
Page 50 |
Page 51 |
Page 52 |
Page 53 |
Page 54 |
Page 55 |
Page 56 |
Page 57 |
Page 58 |
Page 59 |
Page 60 |
Page 61 |
Page 62 |
Page 63 |
Page 64 |
Page 65 |
Page 66 |
Page 67 |
Page 68 |
Page 69 |
Page 70 |
Page 71 |
Page 72 |
Page 73 |
Page 74 |
Page 75 |
Page 76 |
Page 77 |
Page 78 |
Page 79 |
Page 80 |
Page 81 |
Page 82 |
Page 83 |
Page 84 |
Page 85 |
Page 86 |
Page 87 |
Page 88 |
Page 89 |
Page 90 |
Page 91 |
Page 92 |
Page 93 |
Page 94 |
Page 95 |
Page 96 |
Page 97 |
Page 98 |
Page 99 |
Page 100 |
Page 101 |
Page 102 |
Page 103 |
Page 104 |
Page 105 |
Page 106 |
Page 107 |
Page 108 |
Page 109 |
Page 110 |
Page 111 |
Page 112 |
Page 113 |
Page 114 |
Page 115 |
Page 116 |
Page 117 |
Page 118 |
Page 119 |
Page 120 |
Page 121 |
Page 122 |
Page 123 |
Page 124 |
Page 125 |
Page 126 |
Page 127 |
Page 128 |
Page 129 |
Page 130 |
Page 131 |
Page 132 |
Page 133 |
Page 134 |
Page 135 |
Page 136