ECONOMIC BENEFITS OF COW COMFORT AND WELFARE
Ranjana Sinha1, Indu Devi2, D.N Singh1, Shiwani Tiwari3 and Manmohan kumar1
1-Livestock Farm Complex, Bihar veterinary college, BASU, Patna-14
2- ICAR-National Dairy Research Intitute, Karnal
3- Jawaharlal Nehru Krishi Vishavidyalay, Jabalpur, Madhya Pradesh
Dairy cattle require a comfortable environment in order to enhance their welfare and to maximize production. Farm animal welfare depends upon the animal feeling well, animal body functioning well and able to live natural life. There are three indices of cow comfort utilized on commercial dairy farms for measurement such as Cow Comfort Index (CCI), Stall use index (SUI) and Stall standing index (SSI). Optimizing cow comfort is a key to profitability on any dairy farm. Ensuring maximal cow comfort really comes down to knowing what activities your cows are experiencing during a 24-hour period. The lying behaviour is important for cattle occupying approximately more than 50% of their daily time budget. Cows clearly prefer softer lying surface with more bedding spends more time lying down in well bedded dry stall. The economic assessment of such renovations is difficult because of wide variation in herd responses to modifications.
- Cow Comfort Index (CCI):- Several indices have been developed to evaluate cow comfort. The cow comfort index is one assessment of stall suitability and is given as follows: Cow Comfort Index (CCI) or cow comfort quotient is define as the proportion of cows lying down to total cows in the stall (Nelson, 1996). CCI indices are representative of the good stall use by dairy cows, and therefore a reflection of daily lying behaviour.
Cow comfort index (CCI) = [ (Number of cows lying in stalls) / (No. of cows lying + Number of cows standing in a stall) ]×100
It has been recommended that this index should be measured preferably 1 hour after return of the cows to the shed from the morning milking because during this time peak lying activity was observed. This time keep in touch with the maximum CCI and this was recommended as an optimal time for capture the best stall use in the herd. Overton et al. (2003) reported that the target value of cow comfort index was 85 which is indicator of ideal comfort level for the cows. The cow comfort index for the waterbed free-stalls, sand and waterbeds with sand were 75 percent and 92 percent for sand and 82 respectively. The highest cow comforts for both treatments groups occurred during observation 3, (2 hours after morning feeding) the sand bedded free-stalls had higher cow comfort indexes than the waterbeds and waterbeds with sand.
- Stall use index (SUI):- It is defined as the proportion of cows that are in the pen, not feeding, and that are lying down in the stalls (Overton et al., 2003). The diurnal variation in this index appeared to be greater than in the CCI, and a target of greater than 0.75 was recommended when measured at a similar time (1 h after return from milking). The more than 2/3rd of cows preferred to rest on sand bed indicating that sand bed was much more liked by the cows for resting as compare to concrete floor. The stall use index of approximately 75 percent for optimum performance of animals.
- Stall standing index (SSI):- It is define as the proportion of cows touching a stall that were standing position with all four feet on the stall platform or resting on with the front two feet in the stall and the rear two feet in the alley (Cook, 2005). The SSI was observed 1 to 2 hour before morning or afternoon milkings in summer and winter season. The range of SSI varies from 6 to 35% between herds and seasons, suggesting a wide variation admirable of investigation.
- Time budget of a dairy cow:- The 24 hour time budget represents the net behavioral activity of a cow associated with social and physical environment (Grant, 2004). Divergence from routines behavioural activity reflect departures from natural behavior and may serve as a basis for estimating dry matter intake (DMI), production and reproduction performance, health status and economic losses due to inadequate management strategies. Dairy cows at approximately 100 percent stocking density in loose housing time spend three to five hours per day in feeding, consuming about nine to 14 meals per day. In addition, cow spent time about seven to 10 hours per day for rumination, spend approximately 30 minutes per day for drinking, two to three hours per day outside the pen for milking and other management practices and require about 10 to 12 hours per day of lying time (Grant and Albright, 2001). There are three important management interventions regarding time budgets, more than 70 percent of the cow’s day is spent eating, rumination and resting. Consequently, the cow spent on average, 2.5 to 3.5 hours per day to spend outside the shed and away from the feed, water and stalls engagement. Gomez and Cook (2010) reported that about 3.5 hr of time spent outside the pen during milking and other activity. During this time lameness score (1 to 5 scale) will take without affect daily time budget.
- Dry matter intake (DMI): The most remarkable response of most domestic animals to environmental stress is alteration in feed intake. The extent of decrease in dry matter intake can be an indicator of the intensity of stress the animal is feeling. Environmental temperature has a direct effect on animal’s energy expenditure and voluntary feed intake. Hatem et al. (2004) reported that increased dry matter intake by animals housed in a shed with increase height of roof. Reduction in the dry matter intake during heat stress results from the fact that heat stress causes the roastral cooling centre of the hypothalamus to stimulate the medial satiety centre which inhibits the lateral appetite centre, resulting in reduced dietary intake and consequently lower milk production (Albright and Alliston, 1972).
- Milk producion:- The lactating cow is particularly sensitive to heat stress due to metabolic heat load as a result of milk synthesis. These impacts are due to the fact that thermoregulatory mechanisms maintain thermal balance in the cow at the expense of milk production and reproductive efficiency. The significant increase in daily milk yield in relation to increase the lying time of the cows housed under this shed. The cow should spend over 12 hours or more than 50 % of her day lying time in a stall or at pasture. Grant (2004) proposed that each additional one hour of resting time translates into 2 to 3.5 more pounds of milk per cow daily. Cows require 12 to 14 hours/day of resting potentially to increase milk production due to greater blood flow through the udder, greater blood flow to the gravid uterus during late lactation, increased rumination effectiveness and greater feed intake. Increased in milk yield in cows housed under modified shed is also justified by Munksgaard and Lovendahl (1993) who found that cows experimentally prevented from lying down for a total of 14 hour per day have been shown to have reduced plasma concentrations of growth hormone a hormone which is positively associated with milk yield.
- Resting behaviour: Resting is very important behaviour to all mammals. Cow show both behavioural and physiological stress responses when subjected to affects of their lying/resting behaviour. Lying has a high priority and under time constraints cows allocates relatively more time to lying than to feeding. Haley et al. (2000) compared activity and resting behaviour of dairy cows in two types of housing. Cows individually housed in large pens with a mattress flooring lay down 4.2 hour per day more than cows housed in tie-stalls on a concrete floor, while cows in tie-stalls stood idle (without eating) for longer. Cows stood up and lay down more often in the large pens and the duration of individual standing bouts was longer in tie-stalls.
The floor material used for lying behaviour concrete floor 7.2 hours insulated concrete 8.8 hours, rubber mat 9.8 hours, mattress 12.2 hours and sand 12.4 hours. Increasing lying time may increase rumination, improve immune status, increase blood flow to the mammary system, reduce stress on the hoof, and reduce the incidence of lameness in a herd. There will be 2 to 3.5 lb/d more milk whenever cow comfort is improved and results in one more hour of resting time. The lesion score over hock in sand bedding is less than sawdust and mattress. Lameness prevalence using sand bed is less than the concrete floor. High stocking densities at the feed bunk increase aggressive competition, asynchrony of behavior and cows consume less feed. Heat stress negatively affects cow comfort, dry matter intake and, subsequently milk yield, thus management strategies must be applied to against hot-humid environmental conditions based on provision of fresh, cool, clean drinking water, and increased energy density of rations and use of feed additives, as well as the use of cooling mechanisms including shade, fans, sprinklers and tunnel ventilation. The house where sprinkler are used with fan, cow produces 15.9% more milk while consuming 9.2% more feed than control. The economic assessment of such renovations is difficult because of wide variation in herd responses to modifications. However, the potential economic impacts of increased production, reduced lameness, improved milk quality, reduced culling rates, and increased longevity
- Resting and feeding behaviour are connected
Lying behavior is a high priority for cattle after even relatively short periods of lying deprivation (Munksgaard et al., 2005). Cows will sacrifice feeding in an effort to recoup lost resting time. Consequently, environmental factors that interfere with resting may also reduce feeding behavior. Cows attempted to maintain a fixed amount of lying time, and their well being was impaired when lying time was restricted for several hours daily. An additional 1.5 hours per day standing time was associated with a 45 minute reduction in feeding time.
- Rumination behaviour:- Rumination is a cyclical process characterized by regurgitation, remastication, and re-swallowing. An important function of rumination is to facilitate digestion, particle size reduction, and subsequent passage from the reticulo-rumen, maintaining high levels of feed intake. Furthermore, rumination increases saliva secretion and improves rumen functionality because saliva aids in buffering the volatile fatty acids produced by microbial digestion. The rumination time is reduced by acute stress as well as anxiety. Since high-producing cows generally spend more time eating, less time is available for lying and other activities. Under some conditions, cows may not be able to fulfil their needs for eating and lying time with serious implications for dairy cow health, welfare, and productivity.
Conclusion: The potential economic impacts of increased production, reduced lameness, improved milk quality, reduced culling rates, and increased longevity. Dairy farmers will learn how the importance of cow comfort and how improved cow comfort increases milk production, cow health, and profitability of dairy farms.
Cow comfort- Need for the higher production and maximum profit
