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The modern dairy cow leads a busy life. She rises about 20 times per day to eat, drink, defecate or be milked. Then down again to rest and ruminate because this is her natural behaviour. Each time she lies down, she puts about 2/3 of her body weight on her front knees, which drop freely to the floor from a height of 25 to 30 cm. Given a free choice, your cows will spend about 60 percent of their time lying down.
But if doing so is painful because of the impact their knees must endure, this can cause so much suffering that they will remain standing. Standing too long will change a cow's natural behaviour cycle. Her feed plus water intake can decrease and her nutrition utilization will suffer. On the other hand, we would like to encourage her to get up again, so that she does not defecate and urinate while lying down.
This keeps the cubicle clean and dry – providing more comfort with less risk of stress and injury due to slipping. Ideally your cows should be able to get up and lye down comfortably for as long as they want – to promote cow health, well being and comfort. It will result in less stress, better digestion and improved milk yield, through increased blood flow. It also plays an important prophylactics role for foot lesions and aids the recovery of such lesions.
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