Managing dry cow udder health

The dry period lays a foundation for a successful next lactation, especially from the udder health perspective. It is a high-risk period for acquiring new intramammary infections (IMI), but it also provides an excellent opportunity for eliminating existing subclinical infections. The way cows are dried off and milking is halted at the end of lactation impacts the involution process, mammary health and cow comfort. Antibiotic dry cow therapy (DCT) has played a crucial part in mastitis control, but due to global concerns about increasing antibiotic resistance, the approach to DCT is evolving. This chapter reviews the current knowledge about the impact of milk cessation methods (abrupt vs. gradual dry-off) on mammary involution, udder health and cow comfort. The importance of dry cow therapy is discussed, especially in the light of current global concerns related to antibiotic resistance.

Accurate heat detection and health monitoring of cattle by SCR sense neck collar

Heat detection in dairy cattle is most important step in successful running of Dairy farms. But due to failure of heat detection at right time the dairy farms running under loss. To overcome this problem the Dodla Dairy at Pulivendula, Kadapa district introduced Heat Detection and Health monitoring SCR cSense Flex Neck Tag which aids in precision dairy farming by accurate detection of heat and monitoring animal activity status. After introduction of this new technology there were a lot of changes noticed and achieved the targeted results in terms of reproduction, health, nutrition, cow comfort and labor.

Opening Size Effects on Airflow Pattern and Airflow Rate of a Naturally Ventilated Dairy Building—A CFD Study

Airflow inside naturally ventilated dairy (NVD) buildings is highly variable and difficult to understand due to the lack of precious measuring techniques with the existing methods. Computational fluid dynamics (CFD) was applied to investigate the effect of different seasonal opening combinations of an NVD building on airflow patterns and airflow rate inside the NVD building as an alternative to full scale and scale model experiments. ANSYS 2019R2 was used for creating model geometry, meshing, and simulation. Eight ventilation opening combinations and 10 different reference air velocities were used for the series of simulation. The data measured in a large boundary layer wind tunnel using a 1:100 scale model of the NVD building was used for CFD model validation. The results show that CFD using standard k-ε turbulence model was capable of simulating airflow in and outside of the NVD building. Airflow patterns were different for different opening scenarios at the same external wind speed, which may affect cow comfort and gaseous emissions. Guiding inlet air by controlling openings may ensure animal comfort and minimize emissions. Non-isothermal and transient simulations of NVD buildings should be carried out for better understanding of airflow patterns.

Compost barns in Brazilian Subtropical region (Part 1): facility, barn management and herd characteristics

The objective of this study was to describe barn management practices and to evaluating cow locomotion, hygiene and hock lesion prevalence of dairy cows housed in Compost Barns (CB) located in the subtropical region of Brazil. The CB has demonstrated satisfactory results in relation to animal comfort and productivity. However, modifications to the initial American recommendations are being made by producers in order to adapt it to different conditions. Thirty dairy farms were analyzed regarding structural measurements and layout, management practices, bedded pack and herd characteristics. The main results highlighted were the resting space of 14.6 m2 cow-1, most of the farms (87%) had newly built facilities and only 43.3% were built in E-W direction. Most farms did not have ridge opening and 60 % had fans in the bedded pack area, which is mostly stirred twice a day. About a third of the farms used CB only during the hottest hours of the day or rainy periods, with pasture access the remainder of the time. The bedded pack material averaged 48.4% DM, pH of 8.68, C:N of 5.90 and deep bedding temperature of 42.52 ⁰C. Locomotion scoring showed majority of the cows with a normal gait (95.5% of cows scoring 1 or 2 for locomotion). Hock lesions were observed in 15.5% of the animals and 84.0% of the cows were clean or only slightly dirty. This study indicates characteristics or issues to start an improvement process on CB usage in Brazilian subtropical region. The cow comfort was considered adequate, based on results of cow locomotion, lesions and hygiene scoring.

A survey of practices implemented to improve cow comfort following an initial assessment on Canadian dairy farms

The objectives of this study were to determine the difficulty of implementing changes to improve cow comfort on Canadian dairy farms, to determine if any changes were implemented to improve dairy cow comfort following an initial cow comfort assessment, to categorize producers based on types of changes they made, to compare how producers in these categories differed, and to identify barriers to implementing these changes. The most difficult type of change to implement was changing stall design (including building a new barn) with a mean difficulty score of 3.3 (out of 5) scored by a panel of dairy researchers. Overall, 3 of 118 (2.5%) interviewed producers were categorized as innovators, 62 (52.5%) as effective adopters, 20 (16.9%) as ineffective adopters, and 33 (28.0%) as non-adopters. The most common types of changes made were to stall management (37.3%). Participants were asked to identify all barriers to further improvement of cow comfort. The most commonly reported barriers were lack of funds (52.9%), lack of time (38.7%), and being satisfied with the level of cow comfort (31.1%). This survey study demonstrates that a cow comfort assessment can influence dairy producers to implement changes to improve cow comfort; however, certain barriers exist to implementation.

Comfort Indicators in Free‑Stall Housing of Dairy Cows

In recent years the dairy farming massively went from tied to free housing of dairy cows, and more widely in conditions of Bulgaria the semi open free‑stall barns housing system is applied. One of the main factors associated with cow comfort in this housing system are the dimensions and design of the individual stalls. Indicators for stall comfort can be postures of cows when using the – standing with four or two legs in the stall, standing or lying diagonally, lying back in the stall, and more, these postures can also greatly guide us on the specific design problems that make stalls uncomfortable for the animals. In uncomfortable stalls cows spend less time resting and more time standing on the concrete floor of the technological alleys. Comfort indices are quickly and easily applicable to assessing comfort when used in general practice. For their correct application, careful consideration should be given to factors that affect their values ‑ farm activity schedule, time of reporting during the day, season of reporting, etc.

Are Cows Comfortable in Modern Dairy Facilities?

The main challenge in modern large dairy farms is to achieve maximum milk production while maintaining optimal cow health and welfare. Facilities should be designed to assure that calves, heifers and cows are comfortable and can successfully grow and develop in order to reach peak performance. It is crucial to provide dairy cattle with basic shelter needs and allow farm staff to manage these animals in an effective manner. In addition, cows need to accomplish certain natural behavioral activities daily. Some factors that may decrease or limit the ability of cows to express natural behaviors include but are not limited to resting area and resting behavior, time spent away from pen (i.e. for milking and other management procedures), feed and water access and availability, stocking density, and environmental factors such as heat stress. Understanding cows needs and their natural behaviors allows us to adjust facilities in order to optimize cow comfort and subsequent productivity and profitability.

Method for comparing current versus recommended housing conditions in dairy cattle production

The objective of the study was to propose a method to assess how well some housing conditions in barns meet national standards and recommendations. The key element of the method was to investigate the index of technical standards fulfilment (ITSF), which shows differences between current housing conditions created by barn facilities and some standards. The lower differences are expressed by higher ITSF value, whereas the index values range from 0 to 1. Data collected in 38 dairy farms (with tie-stall and freestall housing systems) were used for the ITSF index analyses. The ITSF index values for the two compared housing systems were calculated for measurements carried out in four zones in each barn: lying, social, feeding and milking areas. There were higher average ITSF index values for the freestall system than for the tie-stall housing system across all investigated zones included in the barns. Investigations can support farmers to improve some conditions of dairy production in the barns including consciousness of some standards on dairy facilities and cow comfort.