Influence of housing technologies of dairy cattle on the incidence of surgical diseases

Relevance. Intensification of livestock production negatively affects the quality and life expectancy of dairy cattle. The introduction of loose and bedding-free animal housing in most cases leads to various diseases of cattle.

The study objective was to identify the effect of animal housing practices on animal health.

Materials and methods. Fifteen livestock complexes in the Leningrad Region and the Republic of Belarus  were surveyed in the period of 2016–2019. The complexes had either tied or loose housing systems of cows either on bedding (peat, sawdust or chopped straw) or without bedding. Surgical clinical examination was performed on 6827 cows: 2177 Ayrshire cows and 4650 blackand-white cows.

Results. In the loose housing systems, the surgical diseases were diagnosed in 35.0% of examined cows and in the tied housing systems — in 10.5% of the examined cows. Laminitis prevailed in the structure of surgical diseases. On one dairy complex with the loose housing system, the limb diseases were detected in 19.3% of the examined animals, diseases in the tarsal joint — in 14.5%, in the wrist joint — in 8.9% of the animals. On average, 23% to 25% of animals on dairy complexes had purulent pathology of the distal extremities. On the complexes where the cow housing technology was severely violated, the number of sick animals could exceed 50%. The productivity loss due to the orthopedic pathologies was 20% to 30%. The culling rate due to the limb diseases was up to 31%. The housing conditions were found to be the main contributor to the development of surgical diseases of animals. The increased humidity in the housing premises due to the insufficient quantity or poor quality of the bedding was one of the leading factors in the development of purulent-necrotic lesions of the cow limbs. One of the directions of further research will be the elaboration of regulated requirements for animal bedding.

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