Aktivitet, läggnings- och resningsbeteenden, tillväxt samt renlighet hos kvigor i liggbås respektive djupströbäddsbox

Sammanfattning: The aim of this study was to compare activity, lying down and getting up behaviour, weight gain and cleanliness in heifers in cubicles versus on deep-litter. The study was conducted from autumn of 2005 until autumn of 2006 in a commercial organic dairy herd with 340 cows. In 2005 the farm rebuilt half of the young stock accommodation from deep-litter pens to cubicles. The experiment used 150 heifers of the breeds Swedish Red, Swedish Holstein and crossbreeds between these, all born on the farm. The animals were divided into three blocks based on breed and within each block they were sorted after increasing age. The youngest heifer in each block was randomly allocated to one of two groups, cubicle or deep-litter pen. Thereafter every other heifer in the block was allocated to either the cubicle system or the deep-litter system. For the activity study the heifers had a motion sensor attached to the right hind leg for a period of three or four days. The motion sensor recorded percent of every minute when the animal either was active, stood up or lied down. It also recorded number of steps every minute during the observation period. Direct observations of lying down and getting up behaviour were made on two different occasions when interrupted intentions and attempts to lie down were recorded as well as abnormal lying down and getting up behaviour. In the growth study heart girth was measured on two occasions with approximately 7 months in between. The measurements were converted to weight and the daily weight gain was calculated. The cleanliness of nine different body parts were scored as the percentage covered in feces. In the statistic calculations Wilcoxon–Mann-Whitney´s test was used for the non-parametric data and otherwise the two sample t-test. Heifers on deep-litter lied down and got up more often than heifers in cubicles. They had on average twelve lying periods per day compared with nine per day in heifers in cubicles. Heifers on deep-litter also lied down for shorter periods than heifers in cubicles (on average 66 minutes compared to 85 minutes), but the total time spent lying was longer on deep-litter. When observing lying down and getting up behaviour no obvious differences where found between the two housing systems. Heifers in cubicles grew on average 930 g per day which was significantly more (p<0.01) than heifers on deep-litter, which grew on average 830 g per day. Heifers in cubicles were overall cleaner than heifers on deep-litter. From the results of this study it is concluded that if the cubicles are big enough for the larger heifers held in the system, housing in cubicles seems to offer replacement heifers similar welfare as housing in deep-litter system.