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Effect of cushioned flooring in cubicle housing and out wintering on all-weather pads on behaviour and foot lesion scores of pregnant dairy heifers

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  20 November 2017

P. Kiernan ,
L. Boyle ,
S. Arkins  and
A. Hanlon
P. Kiernan
Affiliation:
Teagasc Dairy Production Research Centre, Moorepark, Fermoy, Co. Cork, Ireland Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, University College Dublin, Belfield, Dublin 4, Ireland
L. Boyle
Affiliation:
Teagasc Dairy Production Research Centre, Moorepark, Fermoy, Co. Cork, Ireland
S. Arkins
Affiliation:
Department of Life Sciences, University of Limerick, Limerick, Ireland, pkiernan@moorepark.teagasc.ie
A. Hanlon
Affiliation:
Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, University College Dublin, Belfield, Dublin 4, Ireland
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Extract

Comfort is of particular importance during the peri-partum period when cows are particularly susceptible to claw lesions. Claw lesions are reduced by housing on straw bedding which is thought to be in part attributable to the physical surface (Bergsten and Frank, 1996) but also to the fact that cows in straw yards spend more time lying down (Singh et al., 1993). The objective of this study was to determine the influence of relief areas in cubicle housing and out-wintering on a woodchip pad on behaviour and foot lesion scores of pregnant dairy heifers.

Type
Poster Presentations
Information
Proceedings of the British Society of Animal Science , Volume 2004 , 2004 , pp. 252
Copyright
Copyright © The British Society of Animal Science 2004

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References

Bergsten, C. and Frank, B. 1996. Sole haemorrhages in tied primiparous cows as an indicator of periparturient lameness: Effects of diet, flooring and season. Acta Veterinaria Scandinavica 37: 383–394.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Singh, S.S., Ward, W.R., Lautenbach, K. and Murray, R.D. 1993. Behaviour of first lactation and adult cows during housing and at pasture and its relationship with sole lesions. Veterinary Record 133: 204–208.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed