The impact of suboptimal husbandry practices on animal health and economicprofitability - the example of tie-in versus loose housing system of dairycattle

In this study of two common housing systems of dairy cattle, the tie-in sys tem and the loose housing system, check lists were created to evaluate whet her these husbandry systems fulfill the needs of the animals. Furthermore, a combination of questionnaires and interviews were employed to assess the qualification of dairy stockmen to handle the animals. These checklists sho uld provide a useful tool for those persons involved in the examination of husbandry systems, both by providing a written record and by providing a cl ear outline of all the points that need to be covered during such an examin ation. The study, done in the way of an explorative analysis of data, inclu ded 22 farms (14 with tie-in systems and 8 with loose housing systems) and a total of 802 animals. With regard to the economic effects of poor managem ent and housing conditions, several interesting and statistically noteworth y correlations emerged. Tie-in system: Positive correlations were found between severity of behavio ural abnormalities (behav) and number of injuries due to husbandry system ( injur); injur and number of inseminations per pregnancy (preg); injur and a ge of cow (age); preg and cell count of milk (cell), Negative correlations were found between cell and milk yield (milk) as well as between the qualif ication of stockmen (qual) and inappropriate technical design of the housin g environment (tech). Loose housing system: Positive correlations existed between behav and injur , and between tech and injur. Negative correlations were found between milk and cell, qual and tech, and milk and age. The magnitudes of these correlations were quantified by means of linear reg ression analysis. Comparison of the two husbandry systems revealed that while the loose housi ng systems is associated with significantly more problems related to tech, it is associated with significantly fewer problems related to injur. It see ms that in this housing system cows are better able to avoid injury since t hey are allowed to move freely. No significant differences in behav were fo und between the two husbandry systems. The present study shows the importance of proper technical design of housin g environments, both in relation to animal welfare and to economic profitab ility.