Cow Health
5 factors that influence hoof health
That good hoof health in cows is important, everyone readily agrees. But why in practice is it sometimes quite a challenge to maintain hoof health? Hoof health is influenced by several factors that together determine how well a cow can move. This can be summarised as:
Locomotion = Barn design + Hygiene & Climate + Preventive hoof care + Nutrition
In a series of five articles, hoof health expert André Janse, Farm Management Specialist at Lely, takes a closer look at this topic and shares valuable insights and practical tips.
Barn design 2/5
Earlier, we talked about the cows' time spent in the barn and the importance of achieving an optimal feed intake by a cow. Simply put: how can she optimally take in feed, ruminate and move through the barn. In other words, free cow movement without obstacles in an environment tailored to the cow.
Which means cubicles that are tailored to the herd in terms of dimensions (length, width and bottom). Allowing a cow to lie down as she would if she were outside. And can take in feed without hindrance, sufficient supply and sufficient feeding places so that there is not too much competition . And if this is not optimal, that the farmer realises this and chooses compensation on this subject by means of, for example, a Juno feed pusher if there are too few eating places so that the low ranking cow can also achieve her required feed intake.
After all, there is and always will be mutual competition and ranking, within a herd this is natural behaviour. Which means that an animal feels more comfortable if she can swerve in this kind of situation. Wide corridors and enough space near the Astronaut milking robot, the feed fence and the drinking places make animals feel more comfortable here. The walkways over which the cows move and where they will encounter each other should not be too narrow. In practice, we often see farmers being reluctant to sacrifice one or more lying areas to widen a passageway to the feed fence, even though this improves the individual performance of all cows and results in less work for the farmer. A benefit for the farmer that returns every day!
A real-life example from a little longer ago. In the period when milk quotas existed in the Netherlands. This ended at the end of March each year, with the 'new quota' year starting again on 1 April. At the turn of the year, many dairy farmers made an estimate of the milk still to be delivered in the final months. At the time, this prompted one of our A2 customers to sell five of his 60 animals because he was afraid of delivering too much milk and risking a fine. Thus it happened. The remaining 55 animals then had more space in the barn which meant less competition at the feed fence and around the Astronaut. As a result, they all started to perform better, so that after 10 days, as much milk per day was entering the milk tank as with 60 animals!
