This is a subscriber-only article
Cattle that are housed on slats overlaid with rubber are less likely to have sole bruising, a study conducted at the Agri Food and Biosciences Institute (AFBI) has found.
The research project compared the hoof health and lying behaviour of 48 dairy-bred bulls that were housed on either rubber-covered slats or bare concrete slats during the finishing period.
Previous studies on the matter have produced inconsistent results, with some research indicating rubber slats led to improved hoof health, but other studies finding the opposite.
Results
The latest results from the AFBI study, which have been published in the scientific journal Animal, show that cattle on rubber slats had fewer sole bruises during the initial housing period.
However, there was no significant difference in bruising between cattle on either floor type in the later stages of the seven-month finishing period.
Hoof length was also measured to investigate if the less abrasive nature of rubber slats leads to less sole wearing, but the researchers found “little evidence of hoof overgrowth” when cattle on rubber were compared to those on concrete.
Comfort
The lying behaviour of cattle was observed by the AFBI researchers three times a day throughout the experiment to get an indicator of comfort.
“There was no evidence in the current study that bulls accommodated on concrete slatted floors experienced a lack of comfort compared with those accommodated on rubber-covered slats,” the AFBI scientists stated.
The effect of nutrition on hoof health was also investigated, with half the dairy bulls on a high-concentrate diet and the other half were on a silage-based diet with concentrate supplementation.
“Diet had no significant effect on toe length or heel height, number of bruises, or overall bruising score at any time point of the study,” the research paper reads.
SHARING OPTIONS: