Cow behaviour on a new grooved floor in comparison with a slatted floor, taking claw health and floor properties into account

The objective of this study was to compare the behaviour of cows on a groov ed floor with that of cows kept on a slatted floor. The trial was carried o ut with two groups of 12 Holstein-Friesian cows kept in a cowshed with two symmetrical halves, identical except for the floor. One floor was grooved l ongitudinally to the feeding fence (width of grooves 35 mm) and the other w as slatted (gaps 35 mm wide) perpendicular to the feeding fence. Both floor s had scrapers to remove manure. After 3 weeks of bring kept on these two f loors, cows were switched between floors for 3 weeks. In the third week of each 3-week-period, behavioural observations of cows related to their time budget over 24 h, relocation on each floor indicated by index of movement a nd specific behaviours (aggression, self maintenance) performed on the floo rs were executed. The health of claws was examined before the trial and 6 w eeks later, after the trial. The grooved floor influenced the cows daily ti me budget: cows kept on the grooved floor stood less (P < 0.05) with four l egs inside the cubicles (group 1: 36 min, group 2: 39 min) than cows kept o n the slatted door (group 1: 57 min, group 2: 60 min). Neither the specific behaviours of cows nor their movement performed on both doors were differe nt. After switching from the grooved door to the slatted floor, cows lay fo r 669 min a day (in comparison to 746 min a day while kept on the grooved f loor, P < 0.05) and they stood parallel to the feeding fence for 174 min a day (in comparison to 126 min a day while kept on the grooved flour, P < 0. 05). Given that both groups of cows on the grooved floor and the group that began on the slatted floor had a similar daily time budget, it is possible that the different time budget of the remaining group, which started off o n the grooved floor, was a reaction (pleasure or disappointment) induced by returning to the familiar floor The grooved door was more fouled with faec es (P < 0.05) than the slatted floor. The grooved floor can be evaluated as being equal to the slatted floor with a scraper in terms of the behaviour performed on it. There were hardly any slip incidents on it (during 64 h of observations, two slip incidents on the grooved floor, four slip incidents on the slatted floor). However, the occurrence of stumble incidents involv ing the manure scraper (66 cases on the grooved floor and 48 on the slatted floor during 64 h of observations) and the occurrence of foot lesions (pro bably of traumatic origin) suggests that the functioning of the manure scra per, which is indispensable on grooved floors, needs to be optimised. (C) 2 001 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.