Inadequate properties of concrete floors in cattle houses are a major cause of claw problems, resulting in economic losses and impaired animal welfare. Many claw diseases are sequels of an extreme local overload due to high floor roughness or are caused by the indirect effects of the slipperiness of the floor. In this paper, the roughness of the concrete floor, the frictional interactions between bovine claw and floor and the relation between roughness and frictional properties, are studied.Concrete floor samples were made with five different finishing methods. Their roughness was determined by measuring the heights of the 'peaks and valleys' of the surface with a high-precision laser beam. The smoothest surface was the sample finished with a metal float (average surface roughness R a ¼ 0Á080 mm) and the roughest surface occurred with the heavily sandblasted sample (average surface roughness R a ¼ 0Á296 mm). Their roughness was also approximated with the 'sand-patch' method: the texture depth was calculated by dividing a fixed volume of fine dry sand by the surface area of the circle-shaped sand patch. Again the smoothest surface appeared to be the sample finished with a metal float (texture depth ¼ 0Á19 mm) and the roughest surface was the heavily sandblasted sample (texture depth ¼ 0Á59 mm). The sand-patch method appeared to be a reliable way of assessing the roughness of the floor.The static coefficient of friction m stat and the dynamic coefficient of friction m dyn between bovine claw models and dry and wet floors were determined by using the 'drag method' (a loaded bovine claw was dragged using a hand-operated winch over a flat floor sample while the tensional force was recorded). The five concrete floor panels with different roughnesses were used, but also two types of synthetic floor coverings (mat and mattress) were added to the test. The static coefficient of friction on dry floors varied between 0Á60 (mattress) and 0Á79 (mildly sandblasted concrete); the dynamic coefficient of friction ranged between 0Á47 (mattress) and 0Á69 (heavily sandblasted concrete). In wet circumstances only three floor types were tested. The static coefficient of friction varied between 0Á65 (metal-floated concrete) and 0Á80 (heavily sandblasted concrete) while the dynamic coefficient of friction yielded values between 0Á56 (metal-floated concrete) and 0Á69 (heavily sandblasted concrete). Significant differences were found between the floor types, but these were mainly due to the values measured on the metal-floated concrete, the mattress and the mat. Only in dry circumstances did the fore claws produce significantly higher coefficients of friction than the hind claws. The effect of the floor type on the coefficients of friction was in all cases many times higher than the effect of the claw itself. The static and the dynamic coefficients of friction in wet conditions were found to be larger than the same coefficients in dry conditions.The skid or slip resistance was measured separately, on wetted surfaces, with the skid-resist...
To tackle the high prevalence of lameness, techniques to monitor cow locomotion are being developed in order to detect changes in cows' locomotion due to lameness. Obviously, in such lameness detection systems, alerts should only respond to locomotion changes that are related to lameness. However, other environmental or cow factors can contribute to locomotion changes not related to lameness and hence, might cause false alerts. In this study the effects of wet surfaces, dark environment, age, production level, lactation and gestation stage on cow locomotion were investigated. Data was collected at Institute for Agricultural and Fisheries Research research farm (Melle, Belgium) during a 5-month period. The gait variables of 30 non-lame and healthy Holstein cows were automatically measured every day. In dark environments and on wet walking surfaces cows took shorter, more asymmetrical strides with less step overlap. In general, older cows had a more asymmetrical gait and they walked slower with more abduction. Lactation stage or gestation stage also showed significant association with asymmetrical and shorter gait and less step overlap probably due to the heavy calf in the uterus. Next, two lameness detection algorithms were developed to investigate the added value of environmental and cow data into detection models. One algorithm solely used locomotion variables and a second algorithm used the same locomotion variables and additional environmental and cow data. In the latter algorithm only age and lactation stage together with the locomotion variables were withheld during model building. When comparing the sensitivity for the detection of non-lame cows, sensitivity increased by 10% when the cow data was added in the algorithm (sensitivity was 70% and 80% for the first and second algorithm, respectively). Hence, the number of false alerts for lame cows that were actually non-lame, decreased. This pilot study shows that using knowledge on influencing factors on cow locomotion will help in reducing the number of false alerts for lameness detection systems under development. However, further research is necessary in order to better understand these and many other possible influencing factors (e.g. trimming, conformation) of non-lame and hence 'normal' locomotion in cows.
BSTRACTPrenatal programming refers to the fact that insults during pre-and early postnatal life can have long-term consequences on the health and performance. In diary cattle, physiological conditions, such as maternal body growth, milk yield and parity, and environmental conditions during gestation can create a suboptimal environment for the developing fetus. As a consequence, adaptations of the placental and newborn phenotype take place. In addition, potential long-term effects of prenatal programming influence body growth, fertility, milk yield and longevity in dairy cows. These results suggest that the current management systems may pose a risk for the long-term health and performance of dairy cattle. Hence, in management practices, all pre-and postnatal aspects should carefully be considered in order to raise healthier and more productive dairy cows. SAMENVATTINGPrenatale programmering verwijst naar het feit dat invloeden tijdens het pre-en vroeg-postnatale leven gevolgen kunnen hebben voor de gezondheid en de prestaties op lange termijn. Fysiologische processen bij melkvee, zoals maternale groei, melkgift en pariteit, en omgevingsinvloeden tijdens de dracht kunnen een suboptimale omgeving creëren voor de zich ontwikkelende foetus. Deze resulteren in fenotypische aanpassingen van de placenta en van het pasgeboren kalf. Bovendien kan prenatale programmering op lange termijn een effect hebben op de groei, de vruchtbaarheid, de melkgift en de levensduur van melkkoeien. Deze resultaten suggereren dat de huidige managementsystemen een risico kunnen vormen voor de gezondheid en prestaties van melkvee op lange termijn. Daarom moeten de managementpraktijken alle pre-en postnatale aspecten zorgvuldig in overweging nemen om gezondere en productievere melkkoeien te fokken. A Prenatal programming of later performance in dairy cattlePrenatale programmering van latere prestaties bij melkvee M. Van Eetvelde, G. OpsomerMieke.Vaneetvelde@ugent.be Vlaams Diergeneeskundig Tijdschrift, 2020, 89 Continuing education 53
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