Can automated measures of lying time help assess lameness and leg lesions on tie-stall dairy farms?

• Published in: Applied animal behaviour science 2016-02, Vol.175, p.14-22
• Main Authors: Charlton, Gemma L., Bouffard, Veronique, Gibbons, Jenny, Vasseur, Elsa, Haley, Derek B., Pellerin, Doris, Rushen, Jeffrey, de Passillé, Anne Marie
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Automated measures; Dairy cattle; Hock lesion; Knee lesions; Lameness; Lying time
• ISSN: 0168-1591; 1872-9045
• DOI: 10.1016/j.applanim.2015.02.011

•There was large variation between individual cows in all measures of lying time.•Lower lying times were found among cows with hock and knee injuries.•Automated measures of lying time may indicate farms with lame or injured cows. The time that dairy cows spend lying down is an important measure of their comfort and lameness and injuries to hocks and knees are associated with alterations in lying time. We examined whether automated measures of lying time could identify cows and farms with problems of lameness or leg lesions. Data were collected from 40 lactating Holstein dairy cows from each of 100 tie-stall farms. The occurrence of lameness, hock and knee injuries was recorded and lying times were recorded automatically using accelerometers. There was large variation between individual cows, and between farms in all measures of lying time. At the cow level, there was no relationship (P>0.10) between being lame and daily duration of lying time. A lower daily duration of lying time was found among cows with hock injuries (mean±SE: non-injured=12.79±0.06h, injured=12.21±0.06h; P