Imagine: you weigh 700 kilos and you sleep in a small, hard and cold bed every night. Would you lie down or stay up? And how long would your feet last?
For a cow too, being able to lie down comfortably is very important. Claw health is influenced by several factors, including nutrition, genetics and the surface they walk on. But lying comfort also affects claw health. After all, the more comfortable the barn, the more often and longer cows lie down. And the more hours they lie down, the less strain on the claws. Besides worsening cow welfare, claw problems can also cause high costs and reduced production.
The Cow Comfort Index (CCI) is a yardstick to measure the comfort of a barn. The higher the CCI, the more comfortable the barn is. So using comfortable barn design products, such as spacious cubicles and cubicle coverings, increases this score. Research shows that a high CCI - meaning many cows are lying down - is associated with a lower number of lame cows. So the more cows lie down, the less lameness occurs.
More than half of a cow's ideal day consists of resting, which a cow does for about 12 to 14 hours a day on average. In doing so, she lies down and gets up about 15 to 30 times a day. Because of her weight, this is quite an undertaking. When standing up, a cow moves her head forward to relieve the hindquarters so that the hindquarters rise more easily. She then takes a step forward. During this movement, a cow uses about 96 cm of extra space to stand up. With a body space of 190 cm and a head space of 43 cm, a cow needs about 329 cm before she has enough space to stand up comfortably.
Besides length, the width of a cubicle is also essential: a comfortable cubicle is twice as wide as a cow's hip width. A dry cow needs 10 cm extra space. If cubicles are wide enough, cows can lie in a row without any problems, without getting in each other's way. This increases the number of lying hours.
It is also important that there is no overcrowding in the barn. Because there are too few lying places when there is overcrowding, cows make fewer lying hours. This has negative consequences for claw health and increases the risk of lameness.
So it is important to monitor your cows' lying behaviour well. In a comfortable barn, more cows lie down. This reduces claw strain and prevents claw problems. So more comfort means healthier cows with fewer claw problems.
View all our livestock housing products here