Shared By Ngetich Walter
#DairyCow #Cubicle #Housing #Design to #Control #Environmental #Mastitis in #Lactation
Keeping cow bedding materials and other surfaces cows encounter clean and dry is essential, to reduce the risk of environmental mastitis infections. Cow comfort and housing design are also key areas of consideration.
- To reduce the risk from environmental sources of mastitis, it is important to keep levels of bacteria on the teats and near teat ends low
- Cow comfort is a key factor in reducing environmental risks for mastitis
#Cubicle #Size #and #Design
Cubicles must be appropriate to the size of the cows in the herd and designed so that 90% of cows will lie in them correctly at all times:
The minimum cubicle size must be greater than 2.36 m long x 1.15 m wide (7’9″ x 3’9″) and should be more than 43 m long x 1.22 m wide (8′ x 4′) for ✓Holstein-Friesian cows
There should be a slope on the cubicles, front to back,
There should be an adjustable brisket board (or cow pillow) in the cubicles at a distance of approximately 75% of the cubicle length, to ensure that at least 90% of the cow’s dung goes into the passageway
Cubicle partitions should not have a bottom rail lower than 0.4 m and could have flexible partitions,
It may be difficult to control the risk of environmental infection from high stocking rates even with gold standard milking parlour routines.
High stocking rates can be a particular risk in low cell count herds where the impact of environmental infections can be dramatic. Cows are herd animals and prefer to synchronise their behaviour by lying down at the same time.
In early lactation and heifer groups, stocking rate at 80% occupancy is recommended.
✓ 90% of cows lie correctly in cubicles at all times
✓ There are at least as many cubicles as cows
✓ Ideally, there are 5% more cubicles than cows for each group
New clean bedding material is applied at least once every other day for inorganic bedding materials such as sand
Crouch and then drop to your knees. Any pain reaction in your knees will quickly tell you how comfortable the beds are. If it hurts, it is likely the cows will be reluctant to use this area
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