Why you should invest in cow comfort

Last week, we visited a dairy farm in Eldoret for a farm performance review, which helps in boosting efficiency.

The farm looked impressive having machinery, huge land for fodder and pasture and a nicely set-up barn with cow mattresses in all the 42 cubicles.

But despite the farmer having invested well in the enterprise, the cows offered him low yields. He was distressed. One notable observation was that the cows hardly lied down.

Test of behaviour

On day two of the exercise, we decided to release the cows into the pasture fields early morning and observe their natural behaviour.

It was strange that instead of grazing, majority of the herd went lying down on the soft grass but later on got on their feet grazing as we left to continue assessing the farm.

Towards evening, we supplemented the lactating herd with the dairy meal also made on the farm. Then came our time to leave having completed the two-day assessment exercise but we decided to delay to witness results of the change of routine in the milking parlour. The farmer was happy as production improved.

Why cows should rest

Cow comfort provides excellent and often immediate returns. Ideally, cows lie down for about 14 hours per day but reduce their rest time when the resting surfaces do not offer sufficient comfort.

If they are unable to lie down when in need, they will stand for too long hence this affects their natural behaviour cycle.

Once on a soft bedding, cows will finally lie down for long after which they will then eat and drink. During long lying periods, a cow rises, stretches and lies down again, usually on her other side.

Lying down is important for the cow to rest and ruminate, blood to circulate through the udder and increase milk production. During the lying down, more space is created for other cows to walk around in the barn.

Generally, the longer the cows spend lying rather than standing, the lower the incidences of lameness. Their hooves rest and dry off and more space is created for other cows to walk around in a barn.

Why cows hardly lie down

Sometimes a cow will not lie down because the space in the cubicle is too small. She needs all the space for lying down-standing up procedures.

Each time she lies down, she puts about two-thirds of her body weight on her front knees, her knees dropping freely to the floor.

This qualifies the need to have good quality bedding so that the cow can painlessly lie down whenever she wants. An easier way to know this is to look at how fast she lies down in a cubicle.

The longer the process, the more you should check the cubicle and bedding to identify reasons why she doesn’t lie down fast.

For standing up, the lunge or head swing space is an important consideration. A cow lunges forward whenever she stands up.

If this is impossible it means the head swing space is not available or inadequate hence has difficulty in rising.

Another cause is that bully cows choose best beds first. There should be at least 5 more cubicles than cows, for instance, a herd of 100 cows should have access to 105 cubicles.

When beds are too raised, it becomes stressful for the cow as she might almost comfortably walk into a sleeping cubicle.

The problem comes when she wants to get out of the cubicle and cannot turn around forward. When the beds or mattresses are not cleaned they sometimes get wet and slippery.

Slippery beds do not offer excellent grip for soft landing or getting up. A cow should be assured of secure footing to prevent potential injuries.

Bedding material
Constructing a cubicle using concrete then spreading cow mattresses is a common practice. The mattresses are good but are sometimes not cleaned.

Most times they are left wet and might not give the best comfort given the weight of the cow. Since they are expensive, farmers go for harder and shorter mats which do not cover the whole floor area, giving room for potential contact with the hard ground surface for injuries.

In addition, not all mattresses are equally attractive to cows demonstrating that some have a higher occupancy by cows than others.

Saw dust is another soft option but they get dumb, wet easily and hardly dry up, harbouring unwanted micro-organisms.

Straws also keep the cows clean for easier milking. If you are to use sand, choose one that is soft, dry, supports solid standing and has free particles compared to murram which cakes/clog together forming hard ‘stones.’

However, sand requires more labour to keep the beds raked, clean and replenished with fresh sand during need. Deep sand bedding is desired to decrease lameness prevalence and reduce hock lesions.

A comfortable cubicle and bedding is one that depresses bacterial growth and is easy to keep clean and dry especially in these times of rains.

The challenge is to provide an optimal softness, easy maintenance, traction, low risk of abrasion and cost-effectiveness.

Routinely check your cows’ legs particularly the hocks and knees for severe hair loss signs, abrasions or swelling as signals of cubicle discomfort.

The writer is a CowSignals Certified Master trainer and founder of The Udder Agribusiness dairy consultancy. He is based in the Department of Animal Sciences, Egerton University.