Dairy Science Commons^™

Preference And Usage Of Pasture Versus Free-Stall Housing By Lactating Dairy Cattle, A. L. Legrand, M. A. G. Von Keyserlingk, D. M. Weary

Housing and Confinement of Farm Animals Collection

The aim of the current study was to assess if cows preferred pasture or indoor housing, and how diurnal and environmental factors affected this preference. Lactating dairy cows (n = 5 groups, each containing 5 cows) were sequentially housed either in a free-stall barn on pasture, or given the choice between the 2 environments. Each group was tested 3 times under each condition, for a total of 21 d, to assess the effects of varying climatic conditions (outdoor temperature ranged from 9.9 to 28.2°C and daily rainfall from 0 to 65 mm/d over the course of the experiment). When provided …

Preference For Pasture Versus Freestall Housing By Dairy Cattle When Stall Availability Indoors Is Reduced, A. C. Falk, D. M. Weary, C. Winckler, M. A. G. Von Keyserlingk

Housing and Confinement of Farm Animals Collection

Providing cattle with access to pasture has been shown to yield benefits, including access to more space, fewer agonistic interactions, better air quality, and the ability to perform a greater range of normal behaviors. Preference for pasture appears to depend on several parameters, including weather conditions and availability of shade. The primary aim of this study was to evaluate the preference for pasture versus inside a freestall barn with variable stocking densities at the stalls. We also investigated the effect of temperature-humidity index (THI) and precipitation on this preference. Overall, cows spent on average 13.7 ± 2.6 h/d (mean ± …

The Stall-Design Paradox: Neck Rails Increase Lameness But Improve Udder And Stall Hygiene, F. Bernardi, J. A. Fregonesi, C. Winckler, D. M. Veira, M. A. G. Von Keyserlingk, D. M. Weary

Housing and Confinement of Farm Animals Collection

Housing conditions for dairy cows are thought to af-fect lameness, but almost no experimental work has addressed this link. The aim was to assess the effect of one feature of free-stall design, the position of the neck rail, testing the prediction that cows will be more likely to become lame if using pens with the neck rail positioned such that it prevents standing fully inside the stall. Cows (n = 32) were housed in 8 pens. Treat-ments were tested using a crossover design; treatments were allocated alternately to pens at the beginning of the experiment and switched halfway through the …

Assessing Lameness In Cows Kept In Tie-Stalls, K. A. Leach, S. Dippel, J. Huber, S. March, C. Winckler, H. R. Whay

Housing and Confinement of Farm Animals Collection

Identifying lame cows and quantifying the prevalence of lameness are important elements of cattle welfare assessment that are generally achieved by methods involving observations of each animal walking. There is no published method for assessing lameness in cows confined in tie-stalls. The objective of this study (carried out within the European Commission’s Welfare Quality® project) was to develop a suitable method and validate it for lameness detection against a published locomotion score. A series of indicators of lameness visible in tied cows was formalized into a stall assessment protocol. This was validated against a traditional locomotion score and tested for …

Effect Of Restricted Access Time To Pasture On Dairy Cow Milk Production, Grazing Behavior, And Dry Matter Intake, E. Kennedy, M. Mcevoy, J. P. Murphy, M. O'Donovan

Housing and Confinement of Farm Animals Collection

The objective of this experiment was to investigate the effect of restricting pasture access time on milk production and composition, body weight and body condition score change, dry matter intake, and grazing behavior of autumn calving dairy cows in midlactation. Fifty-two (19 primiparous and 33 multiparous) Holstein-Friesian dairy cows (mean calving date, August 17 ± 91.2 d) were randomly assigned to a 4-treatment (n = 13) randomized block design grazing study. The 4 grazing treatments were: (i) full-time access to pasture (22H; control), (ii) 9-h access to pasture (9H), (iii) two 4.5-h periods of access to pasture after both milkings …

Letter From The Dean, Lalit Verma

Discovery, The Student Journal of Dale Bumpers College of Agricultural, Food and Life Sciences

No abstract provided.

Survey Of Dairy Management Practices On One Hundred Thirteen North Central And Northeastern United States Dairies, W. K. Fulwider, T. Grandin, B. E. Rollin, T. E. Engle, N. L. Dalstead, W. D. Lamm

Farm Animal Welfare Collection

The objective was to conduct a broad survey of dairy management practices that have an effect on animal well-being. Dairies were visited during the fall and winter of 2005 and 2006 in Wisconsin, Minnesota, Indiana, Iowa, and New York. Data were collected on 113 dairies on colostrum feeding, dehorning, tail-docking, euthanasia methods, producer statements about welfare, use of specialized calf-raising farms (custom), level of satisfaction with calf-raising by producers, and cow behavior. Calves were raised by the owner on 50.4% of dairies; 30.1% were raised on custom farms during the milk-feeding period, 18.6% were custom raised after weaning, and 1% …

Influence Of Free-Stall Base On Tarsal Joint Lesions And Hygiene In Dairy Cows, W. K. Fulwider, T. Grandin, D. J. Garrick, T. E. Engle, W. D. Lamm, N. L. Dalsted, B. E. Rollin

Housing and Confinement of Farm Animals Collection

The objective was to quantify the incidence of tarsal lesions and level of hygiene by stall bed type. Cows were scored on 100 dairies from Wisconsin, Minnesota, Indiana, Iowa, and New York in the fall and winter. Thirty-eight dairies used rubber-filled mattresses (RFM), 27 had sand beds, 29 had waterbeds, and 6 used compost packs (CPk). Stocking density, stall dimensions, bedding amount, bedding frequency, and type of bedding were recorded. One pen of early-lactation multiparous cows on each dairy was scored based on injury of the tarsal joints at the lateral and medial surfaces and tuber calcis at the dorsal, …

Influence Of Neck-Rail Placement On Free-Stall Preference, Use, And Cleanliness, Cassandra B. Tucker, Daniel M. Weary, David Fraser

Housing and Confinement of Farm Animals Collection

Three experiments examined how the presence of a neck rail at different heights and locations influenced dairy cattle behavior and stall cleanliness. Experiment 1 compared 4 levels of neck-rail height (102, 114, and 127 cm and no neck rail; presented at 160 or 180 cm from the curb) in a preference test. Cows (n = 10) showed no consistent preference based on neck-rail height, regardless of the horizontal position of the neck rail. When cows were restricted to each treatment in turn, however, time spent standing fully (with all 4 hooves) in the stall was least in the stall with …

Free-Stall Dimensions: Effects On Preference And Stall Usage, Cassandra B. Tucker, Daniel M. Weary, David Fraser

Housing and Confinement of Farm Animals Collection

In 2 experiments, free-stall dimensions were examined to determine how they affected stall preference, usage, cleanliness, and milk production in Holstein dairy cattle. In experiment 1, stall width (112 or 132 cm) and stall length (229 and 274 cm from curb to wall) were compared in a 2 × 2 factorial arrangement of stall treatments using 15 individually housed, non-lactating animals. Cows showed no clear preference for stall size as measured by lying time. When animals had no choice between stalls, average lying time was higher in the wide stalls than in the narrow stalls (10.8 vs. 9.6 ± 0.3 …

Effects Of Three Types Of Free-Stall Surfaces On Preferences And Stall Usage By Dairy Cows, Cassandra B. Tucker, Daniel M. Weary, David Fraser

Housing and Confinement of Farm Animals Collection

One important criterion in choosing appropriate housing systems for dairy cattle is that the freestall provides a comfortable surface for the cow. This paper describes two experiments testing the effects of commonly used lying surfaces on stall preference and stall usage by Holstein cows. In both experiments, 12 cows were housed individually in separate pens. Each pen contained three free stalls with a different surface: deep-bedded sawdust, deep-bedded sand, and a geotextile mattress covered with 2 to 3 cm of sawdust. The animals were restricted to each surface in turn, in a random order for either 2 (Experiment 1) or …

Tail Docking Dairy Cattle: Effects On Cow Cleanliness And Udder Health, Cassandra B. Tucker, David Fraser, Daniel M. Weary

Farm Animal Husbandry Collection

To determine whether tail docking would influence cow cleanliness and udder health in a free-stall system, we monitored milking cows after half the animals in a herd were docked. A sample of 223 docked and 190 undocked cows (reducing to 169 and 105 over the study as cows were dried off) were monitored for 8 wk. Cow cleanliness was scored in two areas: along the spine, and the rump adjacent to the tail at 1, 2, 3, 5, and 8 wk after docking. Cleanliness was evaluated by counting squares that were soiled (0 to 14 on a 5- × 17.5-cm …

Land Use History: Universal Forest Products Mill Site, Susie Van Kirk

Susie Van Kirk Papers

A history of land use in post-settler Humboldt County, spanning from 1850-1992. This report discusses the process of industrialization in Humboldt County, focusing on the Arcata Creamery and the Arcata Mill. This report includes a history of how the logging, milling, and agriculture industries expanded and created the need for industry such as the Creamery and the Mill.

Increasing Profit On Dairy Farms, G R. Olney, Warren Standing

Journal of the Department of Agriculture, Western Australia, Series 4

Farmers continually make decisions on all aspects of their farms that influence profit. For dairy farmers these include the number of cows, calving pattern, level and type of supplementary feeding, area of each pasture type and fodder crop, and the areas for hay or silage, or both. The extent and type of the beef sideline operations also influence the overall profitability of the farm.

The WesternAustralian Dairy Farm Model (WADFM) is a whole farm model developed by the Western Australian Department of Agriculture to help farmers maximise profits by considering all effects of such decisions on the farm.

Communication Networks And The Adoption Of Three Farn Practices, P. W. Fry, F. K. Goss

All other publications

The report commences with a discussion of the diffusion and adoption model, and illustrates some of the research observations and practical outcomes that have emerged in recent years, An overview of social network research is presented as a means of understanding communication exchanges and providing data relevant to the diffusion debate. The communication and adoption studies are then reported in three separate sections in the order they were conducted. (A map of the location of the survey areas is shown in Figure I ) . The objectives, survey method, results and a summary are presented for each study.

A background …

Forecast Of Farm Animal Numbers And Feed And Fertilizer Requirements To 1990 For Connecticut And New England, Tsoung-Chao Lee, Stanley K. Seaver

Storrs Agricultural Experiment Station

No abstract provided.

Shade Management In Subtropical Environment For Milk Yield And Composition In Holstein And Jersey Cows, R. J. Collier, R. M. Eley, A. K. Sharma, R. M. Pereira, D. E. Buffington

Management and Monitoring of Farm Animals Collection

Forty-eight cows were assigned randomly to shade (15 Holsteins, 8 Jerseys) or no shade (16 Holsteins, 9 Jerseys) for 102 days beginning 12 June 1977 to examine effects of solar heat load on milk yield and composition. Rectal temperatures, respiration rates, and rumen contractions/min were monitored between 1200 and 1700 h on 20 randomly selected days. Morning and evening milk weights were recorded daily. Once weekly, morning and evening milk samples were collected from each cow and analyzed for fat, protein, acidity, freezing point depression, and somatic cell number. Black Globe temperature, rectal temperature, and respiration rate were elevated in …

Partial Budgeting For Dairy And Beef Farmers, Department Of Agriculture, Western Australia

Farm Systems and Economics published reports

A Programmed text.

A PROGRAMMED INSTRUCTION WORKBOOK.

This book is designed to show you how to draw up partial budgets.

If you are like most farmers you are probably searching for different ways of running your farm to increase farm income. Choices between alternatives are very difficult, and require a great deal of careful thought and planning, especially where large cash outlays are involved. But to decide how, where and what to produce with any confidence you need to consider all the physical and financial angles. Doing this in your head, or on the back of an envelope is hard, …

Rules Of The Western Australian Pure Bred Dairy Cattle Production Recording Scheme, Department Of Agriculture, Western Australia

Journal of the Department of Agriculture, Western Australia, Series 4

REVISION of these rules was necessary because of the amalgamation of the field work with that of Grade Herd Recording.

Adjustments have been made to facilitate more expeditious handling of records in the Department's Head Office.

Other minor changes have been made to bring the rules into line with present day practice.

Breeding Records For Dairy Cattle, P B. Lewis

Journal of the Department of Agriculture, Western Australia, Series 4

A N Y business needs records to show up inefficiencies and to indicate where and/or when danger points are being reached.

One record which can be of much use to the dairy farmer is the cow breeding record.

Does Herd Recording Help Farmers Improve Husbandry, Maurice C. Cullity

Journal of the Department of Agriculture, Western Australia, Series 4

THE proportion of the dairy herds throughout Australia that are being production recorded is low.

This is particularly surprising when the large amount of propaganda encouraging farmers to herd test is considered.

Cull Your Dairy Cows On Production, R A. Bettenay

Journal of the Department of Agriculture, Western Australia, Series 4

Good production and breeding records are essential to allow effective culling of dairy cows, says Busselton Agricultural Adviser R. A. Bettenay, B.Sc. (Agric.) in this article, in which he outlines points to take into account when culling the herd.