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Rank correlated use of soft flooring by dairy cattle

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  11 January 2023

S Platz ,
F Ahrens ,
J Bendel ,
H Meyer  and
MH Erhard
S Platz*
Affiliation:
Chair of Animal Welfare, Ethology, Animal Hygiene and Animal Housing, Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, Ludwig-Maximilians-University, Munich, Germany
F Ahrens
Affiliation:
Chair of Animal Welfare, Ethology, Animal Hygiene and Animal Housing, Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, Ludwig-Maximilians-University, Munich, Germany
J Bendel
Affiliation:
Chair of Animal Welfare, Ethology, Animal Hygiene and Animal Housing, Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, Ludwig-Maximilians-University, Munich, Germany
H Meyer
Affiliation:
Chair of Physiology, Life and Food Science Centre, Technical University, Munich, Freising- Weihenstephan
MH Erhard
Affiliation:
Chair of Animal Welfare, Ethology, Animal Hygiene and Animal Housing, Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, Ludwig-Maximilians-University, Munich, Germany
*
* Contact for correspondence and requests for reprints: siegfried.platz@tierhyg.vetmed.uni-muenchen.de
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Abstract

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The present study covers rank correlated use of soft flooring during partial replacement (45% of the total floor space) of concrete slatted floor by rubber covering. For this purpose, the rank position of 19 cows within a 50 Brown Swiss dairy cattle herd was evaluated by calculating the individual dominance index. A clear rank affiliation could be found for 16 cows (eight cows with a rank index 0.67 – 1.0 (ie high ranking) and eight cows with a rank index 0.0 – 0.25 (ie low ranking). Using focal sampling, the 16 cows were observed with time-lapse video recording before and after floor replacement (8.5 hours per day for 10 days with each floor kind). After replacing 45% of the concrete floor surface with soft flooring in a test area far from the milking parlour, high ranking cows used this area significantly longer ie 105.5 ± 36.2 min more than before compared with lower ranking herd members, who did so 17.6 ± 24.6 min less. Before replacement, low ranking cows spent significantly more time on the concrete slatted floor of the test area (147.6 ± 13.2 min) than high ranking cows (80.9 ± 17.3 min). The results of the observation demonstrate that the extent of use of soft rubber flooring correlates to rank-order and illustrates the importance of barn designs in terms of meeting their specific needs in spite of an existing rank order.

Keywords

animal welfareconcrete floorcow comfortdairy cattlesocial ranksoft flooring
Type
Research Article
Information
Animal Welfare , Volume 16 , Issue 2: Special Issue: Proceedings of the 3rd International Workshop on the Assessment of Animal Welfare at Farm and Group Level , May 2007 , pp. 255 - 257
Copyright
© 2007 Universities Federation for Animal Welfare

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