Page 173 - The Welfare of Cattle

150 the WeLfare of CattLe

abattoir and the other one was a modern new abattoir designed to improve both animal welfare and
beef quality. Unfortunately, the new plant had a very steep unloading ramp on a 45° angle and the
old plant had a ramp that was properly designed with a 20° angle. Slipping was 3% on the properly
designed ramp and 7% on the steep ramp. The modern plant also had more slipping in the stun box,
17.6% vs. 31.7% (Romero et al., 2017). The author has observed many new stun boxes in South America
with floors that were too slick. Scoring of slips and falls during handling can be used to evaluate both
flooring and cattle handling practices (Grandin, 1998; Velarde et al., 2012; Welfare Quality, 2009).
Since 2015, the author has observed several cases of substandard cheap construction. On one
farm outside the U.S., the concrete work for supporting a rotary milking parlor was done so poorly
that it collapsed during construction. To insure reliable rotation of the platform, it MUST be installed
on a high-quality concrete foundation that will remain level under the tremendous weight of all the
cows. The author has also visited dairies where substandard construction was used for the free stall
barn roof. There was evidence of the roof steel work starting to bend under a heavy snow load. About
every 10 years, the state where the dairy is located will get 2 feet (0.75 m) of wet snow. This building
with its almost flat roof and flimsy steel structure is at a high risk of collapsing onto the cows.

CONFLICtING GOaLS ON DaIrY FaCILItY DeSIGN

When I search through the scientific literature, I find conflicting reports on dairy housing and
management. Several papers state very clearly that to maintain high-producing cows and prevent
lameness, each cow needs a dry soft place to lie down (Cook et al., 2016; deVries, et al., 2015). On
a well-managed free stall dairy, the percentage of lame high-producing cows is very low—2.87%
(Cook et al., 2016). There is a big difference between well-managed and poorly managed dairies.
A poorly managed dairy had 36% lame cows (Cook et al., 2016). There is additional information on
lameness and lameness scoring in Flower et al. (2008), Gibbons et al. (2012), March et al. (2007),
Chapinal et al. (2014), Schlageter-Tlelo et al., (2014), and Von Keyserlingk et al. (2012). It is also
important to insure that the cows are not competing for feed. If a high-producing cow gets pushed
away from the feed, she will lose body condition. Then another paper in the same year from the
same scientific journal will tell the dairyman that he will have an economic advantage if he over-
stocks the free stalls (deVries, et al., 2016). In this situation, the individual cow may suffer but the
entire house makes more money because construction costs are reduced.
When free stall housing was first invented, most barns had open sides and high-pitched roofs
with a wide ridge vent. This design provided good natural ventilation and supplemental electric fan
ventilation was seldom needed. The air quality in these buildings was usually excellent and they
stayed cool in the summer because the combination of the high roof and wide ridge vent allowed
heat to escape. There is a trend today to build free stall barns with a low roof, which are completely
dependent on mechanical ventilation. Many of these buildings have no skylights to admit natural
light. It is possible to maintain good air quality in these buildings but my big concern is they will not
satisfy the public concern about providing the cow with access to natural elements such as sunlight.
There is a reason why building contractors promote the mechanically ventilated building with
low roofs. They require much less labor to build. A large crane is not required to build the low roof.
Contractors promote building designs where they can make money. They make more money on the
low-profile construction and selling and servicing all the fans that are required to ventilate it.

NeVer SKIMP ON SIteWOrK GraDING IN OPeN
DIrt LOtS FOr BeeF Or DaIrY CattLe

For beef and dairy cattle that will be living in open dirt pens, the SINGLE MOST IMPORTANT
part of construction is sloping the pens so they will drain (Grandin, 2016). This MUST be done