Correlation between tarsal lesions on dairy cows housed in freestalls and culling, somatic cell coun

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Correlation between tarsal lesions on dairy cows
housed in free-stalls and culling, somatic cell
count, mature cows, production, and costs by
stall base.

• W Fulwider, T Grandin, T Engle, D Garrick,
• D Lamm, N Dalsted, B Rollin
• Department of Animal Sciences
• Colorado State University

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Cows analyzed
113 Dairies 90,162 Cows 5 States WI MN NY IA IN
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Leg condition

• Determine
• Lesion incidence
• Lesion severity
• Somatic cell count (SCC)
• Culling
• Mature cows
• Production
• Stall base costs

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Free-stall base types
Rubber-filled mattress
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Deep sand
Deep sand
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Dual chamber waterbed
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Stall length correlations

• Percent of cows with tarsal swellings are higher
  when stalls are too short.
• - 0.23
• P 0.05

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Stall length correlation
The number of mature cows decreases when SAND
stalls are too short (0.56, P 0.01).
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Stall length is too short.
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Comfortable stall length
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Stall width too narrow

• SCC and severe swellings increase as stalls
  become too narrow.
• SCC correlation
• 0.26 P 0.02
• Severe swellings
• 0.52 P 0.01

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Mature cows and sand stalls

• The number of mature cows on sand stall dairies
  increases as SAND beds become longer.
• Stall length 0.56
• P 0.01

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Percent mature cows by base type

• RFM
• 13
• Sand
• 14
• Waterbed
• 20

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Milk production

• There is no difference in production by base
  type.
• RFM 8,164 kg
• Sand 8,164 kg
• Waterbed 7,983 kg

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Somatic cell count (SCC) correlations across all
base types

• Percent lame
• 0.45 P lt 0.0001
• Death rate
• 0.34 P lt 0.002

• Stall width
• 0.26 P 0.02

• SCC increases as stall width narrows.
• SCC increases with higher death rate and higher
  percent of cows reported lame.

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Somatic cell count (SCC) and Rubber Mattress ONLY

• RFM stall width
• 0.50 P 0.01
• RFM stall length
• 0.46 P 0.01

• High SCC is related to
• Smaller stalls
• Severe swellings
• Death rate
• Lameness

• Severe swellings
• 0.60 P 0.001
• Death rate
• 0.52 P 0.004
• Percent lame
• 0.52 P 0.003

tend to be higher
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Severe swelling correlations RFM

• High SCC is related to more severe swellings.
• Severe swellings are related to narrow stalls.
• Stall width
• -0.52 P 0.01
• SCC
• 0.60 P 0.001

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Best / worst 1/3 of dairies by percent of
lesion-affected cows

• RFM Production difference 1,741 kg P 0.01
• Highest cull rate 31
• High group 27 of cows with tarsal swelling P lt
  0.0001
• Low group 4 of cows with tarsal swelling
• Sand Production difference 218 kg
• High group 5 of cows with tarsal swelling P lt
  0.01
• Low group 0 of cows with tarsal swelling
• Waterbed No production difference
• High group 9 of cows with tarsal
  swelling P lt 0.0001
• Low group 1 of cows with tarsal swelling

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Cull rate by base type

• RFM 29
• Sand 26
• Waterbed 20

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Plus extra costs for sand-laden manure handling
system, wear and tear on equipment, extra daily
labor required. More costs for recycling sand.
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Take-home

• Too small stall dimensions
• Increase lesion incidence and severity
• Related to high SCC
• Due to rear curb sand stalls require more length
• Management of bed surface is very important for
  all stall base types
• Base type does NOT affect production
• Lameness and lesions may increase SCC

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Thank you!
Grandin Livestock and Advanced Comfort Technology
Sleeping Beauty
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Questions???