Comparative Mortality and Morbidity Rates for Cattle on Slatted Floors and in Straw Yards

Hannan, John H.; Murphy, Peter

doi:10.1007/978-94-009-6738-0_18

Cited by 6 publications

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“…Similarly, in our study, no signs of lameness were detected. In contrast to our study, Hannan and Murphy [ 1 ] reported the incidence of lameness was 4.75 % among steers housed on slatted floors compared with 2.43 % for steers in straw yards.…”

Section: Discussioncontrasting

confidence: 99%

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Effect of floor type on the performance, physiological and behavioural responses of finishing beef steers

2015

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BackgroundThe study objective was to investigate the effect of bare concrete slats (Control), two types of mats [(Easyfix mats (mat 1) and Irish Custom Extruder mats (mat 2)] fitted on top of concrete slats, and wood-chip to simulate deep bedding (wood-chip placed on top of a plastic membrane overlying the concrete slats) on performance, physiological and behavioral responses of finishing beef steers. One-hundred and forty-four finishing steers (503 kg; standard deviation 51.8 kg) were randomly assigned according to their breed (124 Continental cross and 20 Holstein–Friesian) and body weight to one of four treatments for 148 days. All steers were subjected to the same weighing, blood sampling (jugular venipuncture), dirt and hoof scoring pre study (day 0) and on days 23, 45, 65, 86, 107, 128 and 148 of the study. Cameras were fitted over each pen for 72 h recording over five periods and subsequent 10 min sampling scans were analysed.ResultsLive weight gain and carcass characteristics were similar among treatments. The number of lesions on the hooves of the animals was greater (P < 0.05) on mats 1 and 2 and wood-chip treatments compared with the animals on the slats. Dirt scores were similar for the mat and slat treatments while the wood-chip treatment had greater dirt scores. Animals housed on either slats or wood-chip had similar lying times. The percent of animals lying was greater for animals housed on mat 1 and mat 2 compared with those housed on concrete slats and wood chips. Physiological variables showed no significant difference among treatments.ConclusionsIn this exploratory study, the performance or welfare of steers was not adversely affected by slats, differing mat types or wood-chip as underfoot material.

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Section: Discussioncontrasting

confidence: 99%

“…A number of studies have been conducted to establish if animal welfare and performance during housing is affected by conditions underfoot [ 1 – 3 ]. The conventional housing system in most European countries is a group pen with fully slatted concrete floors.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Effect of floor type on the performance, physiological and behavioural responses of finishing beef steers

2015

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“…This is a lower use of pens with a slatted floor than has been reported from Norway (33.8%) and from the county of Västerbotten in Sweden (54%) [3,4]. There is also a lower usage of pens with a slatted floor but a higher usage of litter pens than reported from Denmark (44% and 8.1%, respectively) by [1,21] found a higher incidence of diseases in cattle kept on a slatted floor compared with cattle in litter pens. [17] found that replacement heifers housed on litter had a 3.2-fold lower incidence of dermatitis interdigitalis when compared with replacement heifers housed on a slatted floor.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 71%

Housing, Feeding and Management of Calves and Replacement Heifers in Swedish Dairy Herds

2001

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Pettersson K, Svensson C, Liberg P: Housing, feeding and management of calves and Replacement heifers in Swedish dairy herds. Acta vet. scand. 2001, 42, 465-478. -A questionnaire was sent to 1500 randomly selected dairy herds in Sweden, asking for general information about the herds, including routines from birth to first calving and also routines at breeding, calving and during the grazing period. Fifty-eight percent of the questionnaires were returned. The preweaned calves were kept in individual calf pens in 68% and in group housing systems in 28% of the herds. Pens with slatted floors were the main housing system for replacement heifers from weaning to breeding, and tie stalls from breeding to first calving. Whole milk was used in 44% and milk replacements in 42% of the herds. The calves received, as a median, 2.5 litres of milk per meal and 2 meals per day. The median age at weaning was 8 weeks. Age was the single most common criteria used for deciding both weaning and breeding time. The median age when the heifers were first turned out to pasture was 6 months. Prophylactic anthelmintic treatment was used by 65% of the herds. The most common diet for replacement heifers before calving was a combination of grain, hay and silage. colostrum; wearing; rearing; breeding; feed plan; pasture.

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“…Other studies that used steers of either a dairy (Redbo et al, 1996) or beef (Hickey et al, 2002) breed found no difference or a beneficial effect, respectively, of out-wintering on growth rates. However, in both of these studies the steers indoors were housed in slatted pens, which are likely to be a much less comfortable, more stressful environment (Hannan and Murphy, 1983;Lowe et al, 2001) than the cubicle systems employed in both the current study and that of Kiernan et al (2004). The OWP heifers experienced a significantly higher CED than animals indoors which is in accordance with Hickey et al (2002).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 83%

Welfare and performance of yearling dairy heifers out-wintered on a wood-chip pad or housed indoors on two levels of nutrition

Boyle

French

2008

Animal

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Wood-chip pads represent a low-cost alternative to housing for cattle during the winter. Considering the negative welfare implications associated with housing indoors on concrete, they may also offer welfare benefits to replacement dairy heifers. However, these animals may not be able to withstand winter weather conditions on a grass silage diet. The aim of this experiment was to evaluate behaviour, limb injuries, dirtiness scores, performance and climatic energy demand (CED) of yearling dairy heifers on two levels of nutrition kept outdoors on a wood-chip pad or indoors in cubicles during the winter. Ninety-six 10-month-old heifers were blocked and assigned in groups of eight, to one of the following four treatments in a 2 3 2 factorial design: (a) indoors, silage only; (b) indoors, silage plus concentrate; (c) outdoors, silage only; and (d) outdoors, silage plus concentrate. There were three replicate groups per treatment. All animals were inspected for skin lesions and were weighed and body condition scored (BCS) at the beginning and end of the trial. Instantaneous scan sampling and continuous all-occurrence behaviour sampling were used to collect behaviour data during two 24-h periods. Animals were also dirtiness scored and group feed intakes were recorded during the trial. Significantly more comfort, social and play behaviours were recorded outdoors (P , 0.05) while trips, slips and falls were only recorded indoors (P , 0.001). Groups outdoors had significantly lower limb lesion scores at the end of the experiment (P , 0.05) and fewer groups outdoors were affected by all categories of limb lesions. However, they were consistently dirtier than animals indoors (P , 0.001). Low-nutrition animals had lower feed intakes, smaller BCS changes and lower average daily weight gains than high-nutrition animals (P , 0.01). Heifers outdoors had significantly lower average daily weight gains and BCS changes (P , 0.05) explained by lower feed intakes (P , 0.01). However, outdoor heifers on both the high-and low-nutrition diets and indoor animals on the low-nutrition diet had lower UFL (feed unit for maintenance and lactation (Irish Republic)) intakes (20.36, 20.35 and 20.22, respectively) than that required to meet the daily live-weight gains they achieved. Heifers indoors on the high-nutrition diet gained 0.98 kg per day but consumed 0.17 UFL more than what would be recommended to achieve a daily weight gain of 1.0 kg. The CED for outdoor heifers was higher than that of indoor heifers (6.18 v. 5.47 MJ/day per m 2 body surface area; P , 0.001, s.e.d. 0.044). However, CED did not exceed heat production in any treatment. Although animal performance was reduced outdoors, the wood-chip pad was associated with welfare benefits compared with cubicle housing.

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Comparative Mortality and Morbidity Rates for Cattle on Slatted Floors and in Straw Yards

Cited by 6 publications

References 0 publications

Effect of floor type on the performance, physiological and behavioural responses of finishing beef steers

Effect of floor type on the performance, physiological and behavioural responses of finishing beef steers

Housing, Feeding and Management of Calves and Replacement Heifers in Swedish Dairy Herds

Welfare and performance of yearling dairy heifers out-wintered on a wood-chip pad or housed indoors on two levels of nutrition

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