Cubicle refusal in Norwegian dairy herds

In order to survey the behaviour of choosing the alley area instead of a cu bicle as a lying place (cubicle refusal), a questionnaire was sent to the 2 73 dairy farms in Norway known to keep cows in cubicle housing systems. Six ty-six percent of the farmers contacted were included in the study. The med ian herd size was 18 cows (range 7-118). More than 85% of the herds had she ds providing one or more cubicles per cow. The mean herd occurrence of cubi cle refusal was 6%, but showed great variation (range 0-55%). Regression an alysis showed a significant association between rearing heifers in slatted floor pens and an increased cubicle refusal occurrence (p=0.02, R-2=0.05), while herd size, use of litter, or cubicle-to-animal ratio were not found t o be associated with cubicle refusal. The practice of rearing heifers in sl atted floor pens accounted for about one half of the observed cubicle refus al (etiologic fraction = 0.51).