Stand-off pad wintering system: effect of surface type on cow welfare and behaviour

Abstract

Removing cows off pasture to a stand-off area is becoming a common practice in New Zealand to mitigate nitrate leaching, particularly in winter. However, limited data is available on how standoff pad surface materials effect cow’s welfare and behaviour. An experiment was conducted over four weeks during winter to investigate the effect of different surface types on dairy cow lying behaviour, cleanliness and lameness scores, social interactions within the herd, cow’s intake and utilization and standoff pad temperatures (C0) and moisture (%). The trial consisted of 250 kiwi-cross pregnant non- lactating dairy cows and were blocked and assigned to three feeding and stand-off treatments: grazed fodder beet in situ and stayed in the paddock for 24 hours (control); fed harvested fodder beet bulb in the paddock for six-seven hours (8:30h-15:00h) then moved to a standoff pad with a surface of woodchip (harvested); grazed fodder beet in situ for six-seven hours (8:30h-15:00h) then moved to a standoff pad with a surface of woodchip (grazed). Surface type had no effect on lying (averaging 10.35 hours/day) with 95.5% of cows lying for more than eight hours and only 0.26% of cows lying for less than five hours. Surface type also had no effect on lameness (average score of 0.06) and cleanliness (average score of 0.96) scores. Current studies show a slight or no effect for surface type on cow welfare and behaviour during winter. The significance of the results could be improved if the study was conducted over a longer period over the winter to reduce inconsistencies.