Ensuring comfort of your Cattle

When cows are comfortable, eat well, drink and rest, they stay healthy and longevity is also achieved with high productive lifespan.

Cold and wet beddings cause discomfort and stress which will lead to decrease in feed intake and weakening of the immune system.

In cases where animals are forced to lie on a hard surface, abrasions, lesions, abscesses, bruises and hock injuries will be evident.

Comfortable clean and soft surface cushions are essential for a clean dry resting area and reducing distress to the animal.

The sleeping area should be spacious and comfortable enough to give a cow more time to relax.

The area should be in such a way that the cow gets in and rises without any obstruction. Inadequate forward lunge space causes injuries when a cow is rising from a resting place causing discomfort.

Lighting in the shed should also be good as cows are sensitive to the amount of light in the shed. Cows should have at least 12 hours of good light per day to feed better and stimulate milk.

Feeding trough should also be made in a way that the animals feed as in the natural way where the feeding trough is 10-15cm above the ground and it should not be sharp at the edge as to hurt the neck.

The cow should eat in a more relaxed manner just as they do in an open ground. The neckling and the bar should also be smooth as if sharp and rough the cow will strain and get wounded causing discomfort.

Objects like nails and pieces of iron wire that resemble hard stems of plant should be removed as cows can eat them causing puncture at the reticulum walls, the liver and the heart (hardware diseases).