Research Project

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Loose housing systems for horned dairy cows

Projekttext

Up to now there don’t exist any specifications on dimensions of loose housing systems for horned cows, the existing norms about dimensions are made for dehorned cows.

The aim of the project is to find the adequate dimensions and designs of housing systems and relevant management factors for keeping horned cows in loose housing systems, without having problems with injuries and stressed animals. Therefore an investigation of the influence of extra space in diverse housing areas on the (social) behaviour and the frequency of skin injuries in a research herd is made. In an inquiry on farms the housing conditions and the skin injuries of the cows are recorded and the farmer is interviewed about his management methods and experiences.

Publications

  • Schneider, C., Ivemeyer, S., Klocke, P., Knierim, U. (2009):Erfahrungen bei der Haltung horntragender Milchkühe im Laufstall – Probleme und Lösungsansätze in der Praxis. In: Mayer, J.; Alföldi,T.; Leiber, F.; Dubois, D.; Fried, P.; Heckendorn, F.; Hillmann, E.; Klocke, P.; Lüscher, A.; Riedel, S.; Stolze, M.; Strasser, F.; Heijden, M.van der; Willer, H. (Hrsg.): Werte–Wege–Wirkungen: Biolandbau im Spannungsfeld zwischen Ernährungssicherheit, Markt und Klimawandel. Beiträge zur 10. Wissenschaftstagung Ökologischer Landbau, Zürich 11.-13.02., Band 2, 22-23