Influence of lying surface, milking system, age and productivity on lying times of Dutch dairy cows

Abstract

Background and aims: In general, dairy cattle spend between 8 and 15 h/d lying down. However, due management factors cows can be deprived to lie down. When a cow spends more time lying down, stress on feet and lameness will reduce, while blood flow to the mammary gland as well as feeding activity will increase and overall cow health will enhance. The objective of this study is to describe the influence of the lying surface (deep bedded or mattresses), milking system (milking parlor or automatic milking system), age (primiparous or multiparous) and the milk yield on the lying times of commercial Dutch dairy cows. Materials & Methods: On 17 farms, lying times were measured during the first 28 days postpartum by Nedap smarttags and computed into 3 categories: total lying time/d, the number of lying bouts/d and the average duration of a lying bout. Results: Cows on deep bedded lying surfaces spent more time lying down, had less lying bouts and the average lying bout duration was longer compared with cows housed on mattresses (662±7.8 min/d, 6.77±0.1 bouts/d, 105.9±1.85 min/bout vs. 611±9.7 min/d, 7.17±0.13 bouts/d, 90.4±1.85 min/bout, P<0.01). Cows milked with an automatic milking system spent more time lying down, had more lying bouts of longer duration compared with cows milked in a milking parlor (657.5±13.8 min/d, 7.15±0.19 bouts/d, 102.4±3.54 min/bout vs. 637.6±6.8 min/d, 6.93±0.09 bouts/d, 97.7±1.44 min/bout P<0.01). Multiparous cows spent more time lying down, divided their lying time in less bouts of longer duration compared with primiparous cows (654.3±7.5 min/d, 6.78±0.09 bouts/d, 102.1±1.59 min/bout vs. 598.1±15.5 min/d, 7.90±0.23 bouts/d, 84.1±3.32 min/bout P<0.01). When days in milk increase, the difference between multiparous and primiparous cows decreased. Moreover, the results of this study showed that when cows spent more time lying down, they will have a higher milk production. Conclusion: In conclusion, cows spend more time lying down on deep bedded lying surfaces, when they get milked with an automatic milking system and when they are multiparous. In addition, when cows have a longer resting period, the milk production will improve.