Housing Dairy Cows Flashcards
A group of 10 cows are eligible to be inseminated. 5 of them are inseminated & 2 subsequently become pregnant. What is the pregnancy rate?
20%
Why should we care about housing in dairy herds?
- cow comfort correlates directly w/ animal health & welfare
- as vets, we must advocate for the animal
- housing (affects the long-term & is a significant financial investment)
- commitment of the producer is critical
- must meet the needs of producers & staff
What is the cow time budget?
how much time a cow will spend doing each activity if given a choice
Why are stable groups in dairy cattle critical?
- animal hierarchy
- social stress
What are the determinants of group size in dairy herds?
- cow time budget
- parlour size & efficiency
- quota
how long should the cow be out of its pen if it is milked 2x per day?
1hr/milking
how long should the cow be out of its pen if it is milked 3x per day?
40mins/milking
What is considered an efficient milking parlour?
> 3.8 turns/hour including 5 mins to and from parlour
What bedding materials can be used for dairy cows?
- sand
- straw
- wood shavings
- oat hulls
- compost/manure solids
Sand as bedding in dairy herds?
- comfortable & biologically inert
- destroys manure scrapers/handling systems
- vacuum removal to remove manure
- can have flush alleys (water let loose to clean alleys a couple times per day)
Straw as bedding in dairy herds?
- barley, wheat, & oat most common
- dry = absorbent
- potential dust issues (less dust w/ flax straw but it clogs manure handling systems)
- might be eaten by cows
- increased risk of streptococcal mastitis
Wood shavings as bedding in dairy herds?
- dried, untreated (screen for nails, screws, etc.; flammable)
- large wood chips drain well
- little dust
- supports growth of Klebsiella pneumoniae which degrades old trees but also causes mastitis
Oat hulls as bedding in dairy herds?
- byproduct of oat processing
- good for drainage, cleanliness
- irritation issues (rarely used now)
Recycled manure solids as bedding in dairy herds?
- dried through a screw press, composting, or digesting
- efficient bacterial growth medium
- massive bacterial growth in first 24 hours after application
Why are free stalls (cubicles) good for cleanliness?
- stall allows waste deposition in alleys
- clean stalls at each milking
- lime or drying agent can be potentially put at the back of stalls
Why are free stalls (cubicles) good for comfort?
- lie comfortably
- ease of rising
what is important about free stall layout in dairy cows?
- described by number of stall rows per feed bunk
- 2 or 3 row barns most common
- more feed bunk space in 2 row pens
- > 3 rows = feeding on both sides
What are the different dairy cow arrangements in free stall layout?
- head to head (cheapest)
- tail to tail (ease of cow movement)
- head to tail (allows for observation of parturition)
What is the importance of tie stalls (Stanchion barns)?
- impaired natural behaviours
- industry is moving away from these
- basic principles of stalls & bedding are same as for free stalls
- food & water at stall
- manure channels rather than alleys
- potentially electric cow trainers
- daily exercise periods necessary
What is important about bedding pack housing in dairy herds?
- loose housing on a bedding material
- manure needs to be removed & bedding added daily (recommended to remove manure multiple times per day)
- till twice per day for composting
- cows have access to an exercise yard
What is important about housing dairy cattle on pasture?
- pasture can be a cheap, abundant feed source
- appropriate environmental conditions necessary
- low housing overheads
- decreased milk production/cow
- streptococcal mastitis risk
What is important about housing dairy cattle in dry lot dairies?
- loose housing system in outdoor lots
- warm, dry climate needed (basically desert)
- dirt lots that are sloped for drainage
- feed mangers along 1 side
- drives for feed mixers
- management of heat stress necessary
What are feed evictions & what makes them worse?
- when more dominant cows will butt others out from the feed bunk (worse w/ overcrowding)
What is important about stocking density in dairy herds?
- temptation to overstock for maximum use of facility
- code of practice: (< 1.2 cows/stall)
- enough feed bunk space should be available
- do calculations based on 140% of the expected occupancy
What are animal based measures for assessing dairy cow housing?
- lesions on their hocks & knees (stall bedding or size) or necks (neck rail height/feed rail height)
- cleanliness scoring (stall comfort & bedding management)
- lameness (assess flooring, stall comfort, handling)
- knee test (drop to knees in stall)
why is ventilation in dairy herd housing important?
- central to dairy cow environment
- cows like colder, dryer climate than we do
- prevents respiratory disease & dry matter intake
How do you assess ventilation in dairy cow housing?
- rust (indicates moisture)
- cobwebs (spiders like higher humidity)
- odour
- air flow
