Cow Comfort - The Key to Dairy Profitability

Transcription

1 Cow Comfort - The Key to Dairy Profitability David A. Reid, DVM Rocky Ridge Veterinary Service, SC, Hazel Green, WI nodata@mhtc.net Many different dairy housing systems and nutritional management programs can be profitable for dairy producers. I presently consult for some dairy producers who milk fewer than thirty-five cows and have an extensive rotational grazing system, as well as farms that are as large as several thousand cows with all animals in a totally confined system with intensive nutritional programs. The key factor in any type of dairy to maximize production is cow comfort. This is true regardless of the management or nutritional program employed on that particular dairy. To maximize production, cows need to be comfortable. It has been said that the only thing for certain in the dairy industry is change. However, many of the facilities we see being built on dairy farms across the country continue to be built the way they have been in the past. Often times I am called to a dairy to consult with the dairy producer after a facility has been completed. When I asked either the dairy producer or the contractor that built the facility why it was done a particular way, a common answer is "because we have always done it this way." For too long, the industry has built buildings and facilities designed around the comfort or convenience of the operator. The dairy industry definitely needs to design buildings and facilities that treat cow comfort as the number one priority. I am amazed at how many dairy producers build a complete new facility that is based around a type of manure system that does not allow maximizing cow comfort. There are many types of freestalls and facilities that can be designed so that cows are comfortable. However, many facilities are severely limited by the type of manure system they have and there is virtually no flexibility in changing these facilities to improve cow comfort. If cows do not want to lie down in the stalls for a significant period of time during the day, then the cows will never maximize production in that particular facility. New barns should be designed primarily for cow comfort and secondarily for the type of manure system that will work in your area. Manure management is a critical issue at present and will continue to be even more critical to the overall profitability of dairies and their acceptance in the agricultural community in the future. However, if cows are not profitable, you won't be able to pay for your manure system! Advances in Dairy Technology (2000) Volume 12, page 67

2 68 Reid The trend in the dairy industry has been to larger herd size. Once herd size gets past 60 cows, construction of new facilities will be freestall type barns. Freestall barns have a much lower cost per cow and, if properly built, can have excellent cow comfort. The ideal freestall is 8' long and either 42, 45, or 48 inches wide. The stall would contain a brisketboard that is 5'6" from the outside of the curb to the inside of the brisketboard. In my experience, sand based freestalls are the most comfortable for cows. Recently, there have been many innovations in the base material of freestalls in barns in all parts of the country. One popular new design is to use mattresses filled with recycled rubber from old tires. These stalls can work well if sufficient rubber is used in each stall and provision is made to periodically remove the upper layer of the mattresses and redistribute the rubber. Several styles of mattresses are now sold that are constructed like sausages which eliminates the problems of uneven distribution of the rubber bedding. The major problem I find with mattresses of any kind is dairy producers put them in and feel that their cows will be comfortable without using any additional bedding. It is virtually impossible to keep cows clean enough on mattresses, or with any stall for that matter, without some bedding being required. Bedding is also very important to prevent strawberry lesions on cows hocks from abrasion caused by the mattress covers. If adequate bedding is used on mattresses in general and rubber mattresses in particular, cows will use them quite readily and can be kept at a satisfactorily level of cleanliness. Freestalls do require maintenance on a per milking basis. In other words, each time the cows are brought to the holding pen to be milked, the stalls need to be raked or broomed to remove any manure contamination and to redistribute clean bedding. Be sure the back two feet of the stalls are maintained properly to minimize the new infection rate due to the environmental bacteria. Sandbased stalls are best maintained by modifying some garden rakes by welding a piece of 1/4" steel about 2 to 3" wide to the opposite side of the tines. This allows the garden rake to have the normal tines on one side and a scraper blade on the opposite side. Each time dairy employees bring the cows to the holding pen to be milked, they should walk through the barn raking any manure-contaminated sand off the back of the platform. Then use the garden rake tines to move sand around so the cows have a level, clean environment to lie on when they go back to the stalls after milking. For stall maintenance with mattresses, standard 18 wide barn brooms should be modified by attaching a metal scrapper to the back side of the broom at a convenient angle to facilitate scraping manure off the rear of the freestall mattresses. The broom can then be used to aggressively sweep off some bedding to dry the mattress cover and to bring back clean, dry bedding over the rear section of the freestall. When conditions are right, which are favorable environmental temperatures and a good source of moisture in the rear of the stalls, coliform bacteria can double

3 Cow Comfort - The Key to Dairy Profitability 69 their numbers every 12 to 15 minutes. Stall maintenance is especially critical in the warmer months of the year. The overall freestall building should be sloped a minimum of three and a maximum of 5% from one end of the building to the other. This amount of slope allows moisture and urine to begin to move toward the far end of the barn facilitating scraping, or flushing. The main benefit to a slope of 3-5% built in the floor is virtually all cows will lie down the same way in the freestalls which minimizes problems with stepped-on teats from the cows lying in opposite directions in adjacent freestalls. The layout of the freestall barn in relationship to the holding pen is critical to maximizing cow comfort. The best barn designs allow cows to be moved from their pen to the holding area and then exit directly back into the pen without having to gate other groups of cows either away from feed or at a feedbunk and away from freestalls. This is especially true in herds that are milked three times per day. In order to maximize production, it is obvious cows need access to quality feed, and, just as important, they need to be left alone for sufficient periods of time so they chew their cud and maximize the milk producing potential of the particular ration they are being fed. I recently had the experience of working with a seven hundred and fifty cow dairy that went from 2X to 3X milking. I was there approximately nine days after the switch had been made and there was a great deal of concern from the farm management down to the milkers in the parlor concerning cow movement and through-put. What this dairy failed to realize was there are very significant changes in the life-style of cows when they are shifted to a 3X situation. It generally takes cows two to three weeks to adapt to that type of change and re-establish their normal patterns of movement and socialization with their pen mates. The facility should be designed so it is very easy to sort cows off from a particular group into either a treatment, sick pen or other specialized facility. It is important to not have to have people out in the pens sorting through cows to remove them between normal milking times. Again, this type of behavior obviously upsets the cows, breaks the routine and does not contribute to maximizing cow comfort. Lock-ups in freestall barns are desirable for easier management of cows. However, lockups will reduce intakes slightly in my experience. Even if there are not enough lock-ups in the pen for all of the cows living in the pen, it definitely makes it easier to chalk-mark tail heads, give routine vaccinations or injections and otherwise work around the cattle and train the cattle to not be upset when they are in the lock-ups and the dairy personnel are working with them. The location of close-up dry cows and the freshening area is very important. The best facility I know of have these areas located close to the milking parlor

4 70 Reid so the personnel responsible for moving cows to the holding pen will observe these calving and close-up cows on a very regular basis during most hours of the day and night. This allows early intervention for assisting difficult births and also insuring that newborn calves are removed from pens quickly. This also facilitates the best possible colostrum management because known amounts of colostrum can be fed to the calves and records kept of colostral feedings and amounts. In addition to the calving cows, the close-up cows need to be observed closely. Lockups are essential in this part of the facility even if they are not available for the general lactating cow population on a given dairy. The lock-ups should be spaced far enough apart so that management and employees can determine if close-up cows are dropping off feed shortly before calving. Maximizing production requires that close attention be paid to the close-up cows to insure the best possible dry matter intakes are achieved on every cow that passes through the close-up facility. Proper sizing of holding pens is important. I would prefer to not see cows stand for more than an hour waiting to be milked. I realize in some barns and in certain facilities this can not be achieved. It is important to attempt to design the barn to minimize the time the cows spend waiting in the holding pen to be milked. There should be water supplied to the cows in the exit return lanes back from the parlor. Ideally, warm water from plate coolers or heat recovery units can be put out in alleyway locations or directly into the barn where the cows exit so they have access to warm water. If given an opportunity, cows will consume more warm water than they will cold water. Dry matter intake and water intake are directly correlated. It is a physiological fact that cows will drink approximately 30% of their water intake within half an hour at the end of milking given the opportunity. Rather than have small fountains, which only allow one or two cows to drink, there should be a large tank on either side of the parlor return alleyways to allow all of the cows access to the water tank at one time. These water tanks need to be maintained very well. There are now several tipover designs that can be dumped over and cleaned on a daily basis. Preferred tanks are large cement tanks that have three inch or larger clean-out ports at the base to facilitate cleaning. A frost-free hydrant located next to these tanks with a short hose will also greatly facilitate cleaning on a regular basis. I normally recommend these tanks be chlorinated at least once per week with two ounces of Clorox bleach for every 50 gallons of water in the tank. If the water is not clean enough for you to think about drinking yourself, then you should not assume that your high producing cows will drink adequate amounts of water at that type of water trough either. Newer barns are usually designed with large open areas between the holding pen and the milk parlor itself. Experience has taught us that cows are herd creatures. If they see cows exiting the parlor in a group, and they can see into the parlor, many cows will normally flow right into the parlor. Improving cow flow into the parlor is one of the key ways to improve the attitude of hired milkers on any dairy facility. Having a mechanical crowd gate in the holding

5 Cow Comfort - The Key to Dairy Profitability 71 pen and directional bars to funnel cows into the parlor also greatly enhances cow through-put and minimizes the number of times the milker has to go out into the holding pen to bring cows into the parlor. Various parlor designs may stimulate cows exiting the parlor. The key to maximizing through-put is to have a parlor that cows can exit from rapidly and without experiencing any stress. Newer designed rapid exit parlors greatly enhance cow movement out of the parlor at the conclusion of milking. Older facilities that are being remodeled often will benefit by knocking a wall out of the barn and having the cows exit straight out of the parlor rather than to have to make turns when they get to the end of the parlor. Cows do not quickly make sharp corners. Designing facilities that take this into account will speed up cow throughput and minimize the frustration felt by milkers in any given parlor situation. Manure management is critical to limiting new infections due to the environmental bacteria. Manure contains large numbers of coliform, Klebsiella, environmental Streps., environmental Staphs., and other organisms that are fully capable of causing both clinical and subclinical mastitis infections. It is important in months of the year when you have had more problems in the past to be sure that the manure is scraped on a very regular basis. In addition, cows need to be moved slowly and deliberately to the holding pens rather than driven. When cows are moved too quickly, they run and drag their feet. When cows walk slowly less manure will be splashed onto the front of their feet and legs and, worse yet, to the floor of their udder and the floor of the abdominal area of their bodies. If cows have manure on their feet when they move back to the freestalls after milking, that manure gets rubbed onto the teats and the floor of the udder area. This is a primary reason why some herds that appear to have relatively clean cows have significant levels of environmental mastitis. The implication is clear. Dairy producers need to do the best possible job of keeping alleyways and especially the holding pen scraped often and to move cows slowly to the holding pen to be milked. Within a week's time you can easily train your cows to move toward the holding pen when they see you coming with a rake or broom to pull sand or bedding back toward the rear of the stalls. This is the best way to move cows to the holding pen because they will move slowly and deliberately and splash minimal amounts of manure onto the front of their feet. In addition, by moving the cows slowly to the holding pen, you do not have animals that are stimulated or agitated to the point of having an adrenal release. This allows much better utilization of the natural oxytocin release stimulated in the parlor to speed up the actual milking and to reduce the milking unit on-time. Barn designs that have a built-in washing system to clean the platforms under the cows are preferred. These systems will minimize the amount of fecal contamination on the outside of the milking units and on the milkers' hands. Dairy producers should give strong consideration to establishing a dedicated dry- off pen. This area needs to be kept extremely clean and only used for

6 72 Reid cows that are just dried off. The best type of stalls for the dedicated dry off pen would be sand based freestalls which are 4 wide and 8 long with appropriately positioned brisket boards. When a dedicated dry off pen is used, feed can be withheld from the animals for the first 2 to 3 days after they are dried off to allow involution of the udders to occur quickly. After 7 to 10 days in a dedicated dry off pen these animals can be moved out to the regular dry cow area. When I poll milkers on what would most improve their outlook on their job and their attitude on a daily basis, two factors routinely are close to the top of their lists. The number one thing that milkers want is for all the cows to come into the parlor on their own. The number two thing, in most cases, is that they want to minimize the amount of mastitis cows they have to deal with during milking. Obviously, the more cows that have milk which needs to be withheld from the line, the more their normal flow through their milking procedures is interrupted. Cow comfort is essential to both these areas. Cows that are comfortable and contented will readily learn that they are gently and quickly milked out in a well functioning, well designed parlor, and they will enter the parlor readily. In addition, cows that are extremely clean, comfortable, and well bedded at all times will have fewer incidents of clinical mastitis. In well-managed herds, the most common types of mastitis is environmental-type bacteria. The environmental mastitis problems are dramatically decreased when cows are housed in a clean, dry, comfortable environment. Profitable dairies have a positive attitude from owner, manager, all the way to hired milkers and employees assigned jobs of maintaining cow cleanliness. Comfortable cows are profitable cows!