Put your cow first and your cow will pay you back. That was the main message from Owen Atkinson from Dairy Veterinary Consultancy Ltd, who was running the Cow Signals workshop on Strandhead Farm in Tarbolton, South Ayrshire, Scotland, organised by Bryan Nicholson, knowledge exchange manager for Scotland with AHDB.

The farm operates a confinement system, with 220 cows being milked through four robots. Cows are averaging 11,500 litres per year with 3.46% fat and 3.19% protein. The farm produces for the liquid milk market and therefore is not targeting solids.

The focus of the Cow Signals workshops, according to Owen, is to prevent disease and “owneritis” by observing carefully and learning from the body language of the cow, and your herd.

There is also an emphasis on being objective and being able to quantify different behaviours cows are exhibiting by putting a figure on it. This allows the farmer to compare and improve certain aspects of cow comfort.

“Because you are seeing something every day, it becomes normal. This is when you can become blind to certain aspects such as lesions or lameness, this is what we call owneritis,” explains Owen.

“I was working as a dairy vet in regular practice for many years and calling out to cows that weren’t bulling and handling them and injecting them, but I wasn’t actually seeing what was in front of me. Cows were not cycling, but I wasn’t seeing the lameness, the lesions, the thin cows or the poor shed design, the reasons why they weren’t cycling. This was my owneritis.”

Owen outlined that when it comes to Cow Signals, there are seven basic needs. These are feed, rest, space, water, light, air and health.

“We need to ask ourselves what the cows want. There are seven basic needs and if we can get these right then everything else will follow,” according to Owen.

“Air is needed mainly to keep cows cool. If cows are hot then they will breathe faster. A lot of heat is produced by an active rumen and from the metabolic activity of milk production so cows need to be able to stay cool.”

Cubicle design

When it comes to measuring rest then there is no easy way to measure how long cows are lying down. Instead, a cubicle comfort index (CCI) will be used. This is calculated by counting how many cows are in contact with the cubicles. Then count how many are lying down and how many are standing up.

Cows lying straight highlights a good cubicle design. It is also important that cows are not overhanging cubicles.

If, for example there are four out of 10 lying down, then the CCI is 40%. You should repeat this at least three times throughout the day and get an average score. The target CCI is 85%. We want cows to lie down for 12-14 hours.

“If cows don’t lie, you have to listen to what they are telling you,” Owen said. Cows will only go to cubicles for one reason, and that is to lie down. If they are not lying down then you have to ask yourself why. Is the surface uncomfortable or is the design of the cubicle wrong or are they standing due to heat stress?

Another area to be conscious of is the space between head-to-head rows. If cows are lying diagonally it could mean that the front rail is too close to them or that there is not enough of a gap left between the brisket boards.

Cows that are lying at an angle are more likely to catch themselves on cubicle dividers while getting up which can lead to lesions on their backs. It can also mean that cows are more reluctant to lie down. Diagonal cows also lead to more muck on cubicle beds.

Ideally, 1.5m should be left between brisket boards in a double row of cubicles. Here it is approximately 1.3m, which means that cows are not lying straight.

Ideally you want approximately 1.6m to 1.7m between brisket boards in head-to-head cubicles to allow sufficient space for cows to lie straight. This area in front of the cows is known as the “bob zone” and it is critical to get it right when installing new cubicles as it can be very hard to fix at a later date. A good bob zone also allows cows with enough room to get up and down easily.

The brisket board should be no more than 10cm high and should never have a straight edge. Using a curved one allows cows to put a leg over it if desired.

It is also important that cows are not overhanging the cubicles while lying down. For 700kg Holsteins, the lying area should be at least 1.8m long, while the neck rail should be 1.25m high.

Cow Signals recommended that cubicles should have a total length of 2.75m if there was shared head space or at least 3.25m long if facing a wall. Unfortunately in many sheds this is not the case as farmers try to best utilise the space available by reducing bob zones and making passageways narrow. Both of these actions will negatively influence cow comfort and movement.

Some 6.6m of space has been left in front of the robots to increase cow flow. It is recommended that at least 5m is left where possible.

On this farm, it was observed that there were not as many cows lying down as you would like; the CCI was approximately 70%.

“The neck rail could be slightly too far back as we observed one or two of the cows getting caught on their back when they were getting up. It is 1.2m high, so it is about 5cm too low,” according to Owen.

Waiting cow

The “waiting cow” is another Cow Signals concept which highlights possible design inadequacies in a shed. “This is a cow that isn’t standing to eat, lying and chewing the cud or being milked, as these are the three main activities, which contented cows will be doing throughout the day,” explains Owen.

Owen Atkinson from Dairy Veterinary Consultancy Ltd, who was running the Cow Signals workshop.

“A waiting cow is a cow that hangs around somewhere and is not doing what she is supposed to do. Look around for cows standing in beds, passageways or collecting yards and ask yourself why.

“These cows will very often show intention movements such as putting their front foot forward and back again. Or if they are standing on cubicles they may often drop the back leg down off the cubicle and lift it again. Another commonly seen movement is where they will drop a knee and stand again, indicating some reluctance to lie down,” according to Owen.

“If the cubicle is good and comfortable then you would expect a cow to lie down within one minute of entering the cubicle space.”

One aspect that will increase the number of waiting cows is if you restrict space in the shed. If there are not sufficient crossover points or if they are too narrow it can cause blockages, which lead to more waiting cows. More waiting cows leads to further congestion in the passages so it becomes a vicious circle.

“It is important that cows are lying down and resting for as long as possible,” according to Owen.

“Housed cows will generally lie down for anything between seven and 14 hours but research has shown that for every extra hour of lying time she will produce one litre extra of milk with better blood flow to the udder highlighted as one of the causes of this.”

The number of times a cow goes to feed and lies down is also important, according to Owen. “You want about 10 to 12 feeds per day. Every time the cow eats, her rumen pH will drop. When she goes and rests (chewing the cud) it will then rise again. If there are small feeds often the pH will vary slightly throughout the day.

Owen continued: “However, where you have a housed cow situation where access to the feed face is restricted then a cow might have one big feed when she gets to the feed face and stay there for up to an hour and a half. This means that rumen pH will drop dramatically, which can affect production.”

This large 4.3m-wide passageway helps to reduce bullying of young or shy cows along the feed face.

When you are looking at your herd, Owen always recommends looking from large to little. Begin on a shed and herd scale and then look at individual cows in motion. If you see a standing cow then have a closer look.

Fresh air

Another movement to be aware of is fresh-air-seeking behaviour. “We have seen this a lot over the summer where cows will huddle to where the fresh air is around 1-3pm in the day when the shed is at its hottest. This could be a sign that the shed is too warm or that there in not adequate ventilation,” explained Owen.

Ventilation in this shed was aided by a retractable curtain running along both sides in combination with large openings running along the apex off the shed.

Retractable curtains allow for airflow through the shed to be controlled.

The ideal temperature for dairy cows is between 5°C and 15°C. However, you want to stay below 22°C at all costs as above this cows are susceptible to heat stress.

Light and water requirements are also important. For milking cows, you want to have 16 hours of >200 lux light and eight hours of <50 lux light.

The water requirement for a confined system is approximately 10cm/cow of trough space.