Changes in dairy cows' behaviour, health, and production after transition from tied to loose housing.

Background: Transition of dairy cows from a tied to a loose housing system may affect their behaviour, health and production. Such housing system changes have become more frequent in Estonia but knowledge is lacking on how cows adapt to a new system. The aim of this study was to evaluate how cows' behaviour, milk production and composition, and different aspects of their health changed after transition from tied to loose housing.

Behavior and Performance of Dairy Cows After Transfer from Tied to Cubicle Housing.

Behavior and performance changes when tied dairy cows were moved to a loose housing system in a cubicle system were investigated. Behavioral observations were made for 3 consecutive days in 3 periods after transition. The cows (n = 105) were observed on 18 sampling occasions for 1 month.

Influence of digital dermatitis and sole ulcer on dairy cow behaviour and milk production.

The aim of the study was to investigate whether the presence of digital dermatitis (DD) and sole ulcer (SU) in dairy cows was associated with changes in behaviour and milk production. Swedish Red and Swedish Holstein cows (mostly in the first to second lactation) were housed in a cubicle system with automatically scraped passageways. After maintenance claw trimming of all the cows in the herd, 10 cows with DD and 10 cows with SU were selected.

Impact of elastic stall partitions on tied dairy cows' behaviour and stall cleanliness.

The aim of this study was to investigate the effects of soft elastic stall partitions on the positions in own or neighbouring stalls by dairy cows, faeces and urine, and of contact between animal and partition. There were two designs of a soft elastic partition, here called I-partition and lambda-partition. The study was performed on a commercial dairy herd where the partitions had been developed.

Incidence of multifactorial diseases in Estonian dairy herds--a survey.

An important precondition of a well-functioning dairy production is knowledge about the incidence of environmentally evoked non-infectious diseases in a particular herd, in the region and in the country as a whole. The aim of this study was to determine the incidence rate of environmentally evoked multifactorial diseases in Estonian dairy herds, and to compare the disease incidence in small (< or = 100 cows) and large herds (101-300 cows). The disease incidence was recorded by local veterinarians in twelve production units with a total of 33 cowsheds and about 5000 dairy cows.