Studies - Animat

What the Research Shows about the Use of Rubber Floors for Cows image

Cows walk in single file staying mostly on the rubber floor when rubber and concrete floors are side by side. This behavior may actually increase movement time to the holding area. Plan to have full alley width of rubber if transfer efficiency is desired. Brian J. Holmes Professor and Extension Specialist University of Wisconsin-Madison 460 Henry Mall Madison WI 53706 6082620096 bjholmes@wisc.edu Full study Industry Knowledge

Flooring Considerations for Dairy Cows image

“Modern dairy confinement facilities are housing cows for much if not all of their entire lives. Concrete is the prevalent flooring surface in dairy barns and shelters at this time. Concrete must be properly grooved or patterned to provide confident footing for cows. Ragged grooved edges and rough finished surfaces are abrasive to cows’ hooves and must be avoided. Even a properly finished and grooved concrete surface causes excessive stress on cows’ feet and legs due to its unforgiving nature. Alternative flooring surface options like rubber belting, rubber mats, and constructed in-place rubber floors are more resilient than concrete and seem to offer a degree of relief to the cows. Research is needed to determine the optimum alternative flooring surfaces ...

Cow Comfort Issues in Freestall Barns image

“Previous work by Fulwider and Palmer, 2003, indicated that cows lie down as much time in well designed mattress stalls as in sand stalls, but spend more time standing in mattresses based stalls. Cook et al., 2004a found the same to be true (Table 9). Different reasons have been proposed to explain these phenomena. In the fall of 2003 rubber alley mats (RAM) were installed over all alleys in the same pen as stall preference studies had been conducted earlier. Table 11 shows the effect of rubber alley mats on stall use (Fulwider and Palmer, 2003). Stall use was recorded for 31 days before the RAM‟s were installed. A three week acclimation period was given to allow cows to adjust ...

Effects of rubber flooring during the first 2 lactations on production, locomotion, hoof health, immune functions, and stress image

Housing dairy cows on concrete flooring has been shown to be instrumental in the development of lameness (Vanegas et al., 2006). Studies have shown that cows prefer to stand and walk on soft flooring such as soft, textured rubber compared with concrete (Telezhenko et al., 2009) and will stand in bedded cubicles to obtain relief from concrete passageways (Boyle et al., 2007). Therefore, rubber flooring in alleys is another suggested housing change to increase cow comfort and reduce the incidence of lameness. © American Dairy Science Association®, 2013 Full study Industry Knowledge

Effect of concrete slats versus rubber-covered slats on the performance, behaviour, hoof health, cleanliness of finishing beef steers and performance, cleanliness and hoof health of weanling cattle image

ScienceDirect published a study with the objective to investigate the effect of concrete slats and rubber covered slats on animal performance, behaviour, hoof wear, dirt scores, hysiological response and carcass traits. It is evident that finishing steer growth performance and feed efficiency is significantly improved as a result of housing on rubber covered slats. Full study Industry Knowledge

Impacts of Lameness – Part 1: Preventing Lame Cows image

PennState Extension published an article stating that lame cows can be present in all types of dairy operations and can lead to a decrease in milk production, decreased reproductive performance, and an economic loss for the producer. By implementing lameness prevention strategies, the incidence and severity of lameness and the economic loss associated with lameness in dairy cattle can be reduced. Full study Industry Knowledge

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