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Cow lying behaviour and bedding quality changes during five weeks on a stand-off pad

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posted on 2023-05-03, 21:49 authored by Cheryl O'ConnorCheryl O'Connor, Suzanne Dowling, Vanessa Cave, Jim WebsterJim Webster
Bedding quality, cow dirtiness and gait score were assessed over 5 weeks in a hybrid pasture system, and compared with lying time. Non-lactating dairy cows were divided into 2 replicates of 100 cows paired with fresh bedding comparison groups (FB) of 16 cows each. Cows were kept on a stand-off pad of woodchips for 18h/d at a space allowance of 5.4 m2 /cow, with 6 h/d on pasture for 5 weeks. Lying times were recorded continuously for 60 cows per replicate using Onset Pendant G data loggers. Gait score and dirtiness score of the same 60 cows was recorded once a week on 5-point scales. Bedding moisture content was measured weekly in 10 stratified 25 x 40 cm quadrat samples across the stand-off pad. Data for each group were analysed separately with their appropriate FB group using repeated measures, formulated as a mixed model and fitted in GenStat18. Lying time declined over the five weeks from 11.6 h/day during the first week to 5.6 h/day during the fifth week (SED = 0.3; F1,25= 351.56; p<0.001). The moisture content of the bedding increased over the 5 weeks and was significantly higher (Group 1: F5,59= 8.33; p<0.001; Group 2: F5,61= 5.54; p<0.001), than the comparable FB groups. This study has demonstrated that during 5 weeks on a stand-off pad, bedding quality deteriorated, cows got dirtier and lay down less to such an extent that welfare was compromised.

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Rights statement

This is an open access article distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution License which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited

Language

  • English

Does this contain Māori information or data?

  • No

Publisher

AgResearch Ltd

Journal title

Animals

ISSN

2076-2615

Citation

O’Connor, C., Dowling, S., Cave, V., & Webster, J. (2019). Cow lying behaviour and bedding quality changes during five weeks on a stand-off pad. Animals, 9(5), 257. doi:10.3390/ani9050257

Funder

Ministry of Business Innovation & Employment

Contract number

A23975

Job code

12416

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