Effects of housing and management conditions on teat cleanliness of dairy cows in cubicle systems taking into account body dimensions of the cows

Abstract

Dirty udders and teats result in a higher workload in terms of cleaning before milking and may constitute a risk for udder health. The aim of this prevalence study on 23 farms with very low within-farm variation in cubicle measures and other cubicle characteristics was to identify potentially influencing housing and management factors concerning teat and teat tip soiling. Information about udder soiling, housing and management was collected through direct recording and farmers' interviews. Height at withers, shoulder width and diagonal body length were measured in 79% to 100% of the cows in each herd. On the basis of the 25% largest animals, compliance with recommendations for cubicle measures was calculated, which was generally rather low. Stepwise regression was used to find predictors for the percentage of dirty teats and of dirty teat tips. The final model on dirty teats explained 58.5% of the variance and contained four factors (F 5 6.34, P 5 0.0023). Less soiled teats were found on farms that conducted teat dipping after milking (t 5 23.21, P 5 0.0048), had increased daily cubicle maintenance time ( t 5 22.58, P 5 0.0187), deep-bedded cubicles ( t 5 22.42, P 5 0.0265) and decreasing compliance concerning cubicle length ( t 5 2.33, P 5 0.0317). The final model on teat tip soiling explained 46.0% of the variance and contained three factors ( F 5 5.39, P 5 0.0075). Less soiled teat tips were associated with increasing height of bedding material ( t 5 22.89, P 5 0.0094) and decreasing compliance concerning resting length ( t 5 2.12, P 5 0.0470). Difficult to explain was the association found between increased passage soiling and decreased teat tip dirtiness ( t 5 21.86, P 5 0.0790). Thus, even under relatively restrictive cubicle conditions, a certain increase in teat and teat tip soiling was found with increasing cubicle length. However, at the same time, measures relating to good management may positively affect teat and teat tip cleanliness. In addition, deep-bedded cubicles yielded advantages in this regard. Both regression models for teat and teat tip cleanliness contained similar but not identical predictive variables. This indicates that dirtiness of each particular area may originate from slightly different though related causes. The low correlations found between udder, teat and teat tip cleanliness should be considered in future studies.

Effects of cubicle characteristics on animal welfare indicators in dairy cattle

“…This may be explained with higher amounts of bedding material, which absorbs moisture from urine or faeces (Ruud et al, 2011). Similarly, Plesch and Knierim (2012) observed 8.1% less cows with soiled teats in deep-bedded cubicles compared with rubber mats. Contrastingly, comparable cubicle hygiene scores were found for deep-bedded cubicles (2.49 ± 0.03) and rubber mats (2.53 ± 0.05) by Husfeldt and Endres (2012).…”

“…Contrastingly, comparable cubicle hygiene scores were found for deep-bedded cubicles (2.49 ± 0.03) and rubber mats (2.53 ± 0.05) by Husfeldt and Endres (2012). Lying surfaces of deep-bedded cubicles are often restricted by curbs, in order to maintain the bedding material within the cubicles (Plesch and Knierim, 2012). Tails of the cows might be deposited less often in the soiled walking alleys, because the curbs confine the lying area.…”

“…Longer distances between neck rail and lying surface reduced the number of cows with dirty legs and dirty udders in the present study. Conceivably, dairy cows avoided rising in cubicles with lower neck rail heights and defecated more often while lying in the cubicle (Bernardi et al, 2009;Plesch and Knierim, 2012). Restricted neck rail positions might also lead to increased standing times in the walking alleys, which Effect of cubicle design on cattle welfare is a further risk factor for soiling (Nielsen et al, 2011;deVries et al, 2012).…”

Animal health and welfare planning improves udder health and cleanliness but not leg health in Austrian dairy herds

“…Applying good management practices, especially bedding management, has been 9 shown to be beneficial for teat and teat tip cleanliness (Plesch and Knierim, 2012). Implementation farms may have aimed more specifically at a reduction of severe dirtiness, as this poses a greater health risk, for example, for udder health (Schreiner and Ruegg, 2003;Ellis et al, 2007).…”

Longitudinal assessment of dairy farm management practices associated with the presence of psychrotolerant Bacillales spores in bulk tank milk on 10 New York State dairy farms

“…In a study of 153 herds on Prince Edward Island (Canada), both the total aerobic and preliminary incubation counts in bulk tank milk samples were significantly associated with the amount of dirt on teats, indicating that dirtier teats were associated with higher counts (Elmoslemany et al, 2010). Previous studies also support the importance of maintaining good hygiene from farm environment to cow, indicating the effect of housing hygiene on teat cleanliness (Plesch and Knierim, 2012) and, therefore, bacteriological quality of bulk tank raw milk (Elmoslemany et al, 2010). Our data suggest that managing overall farm cleanliness (via manure/dirt contamination reduction from housing to parlor to milkhouse) is a key intervention and a feasible strategy to reduce psychrotolerant Bacillales spore presence in bulk tank raw milk.…”