Housing

The dairy cow’s physical problems are compounded by being kept indoors for six months of the year. The majority of dairy herds in the UK currently graze from April to October and spend the rest of the year housed indoors in cubicle units. There are also some dairy farms in Britain that have adopted the USA’s zero-grazing system where cows spend their entire lives indoors.

“With numerous systems installed in the 1960s and 1970s, and with the increasing use of Holstein bulls, many cows are now too large to be comfortable in existing cubicles.”

Farm Animal Welfare Council Report

This is a result of the switch from British Friesians, who average 550kg, to Holsteins, who average 700kg, as the dominant dairy breed. Many cows simply do not fit in the cubicles and their hind legs protrude into the slurry passage behind them, while some find the cubicles so uncomfortable that they choose to lie in the slurry covered aisles instead. The social hierarchy within the herd can also contribute to problems in indoor housing units as lower ranking cows often choose not to use cubicles next to dominant cows and instead lie in the aisles or slurry passage.

Indoor Diets

Whilst indoors, cows are fed a diet of silage (wet, fermented grass) and high protein concentrate (a mixture of cereals, rape meal, sunflower meal, maize and soya). Wet silage causes wet manure and the resulting poor hygiene conditions contribute to mastitis and lameness. High protein concentrates cause a build up of toxins in the cow’s system which causes the severely painful condition laminitis (inflammation of the tissue which lies below the outer horny wall of the foot).