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Animal Behavior Responses to Loose and Free Stall Housing

Department of Animal Sciences

E. W. Kehrberg and W. H. M. Morris

Department of Agricultural Economics, Purdue University, Lafayette, Indiana

ABSTRACT

The physical, physiological, and behavioral activities of high-producing dairy cattle are important considerations in the proper management of a dairy herd. It has been reported that group action plays a vital role in the life of dairy cows (3).

Fuller (2), comparing the eating habits of cows in box stalls with animals in stanchions, reported that stanchion-housed cows spent 50% less time eating than those in box stalls. According to Hardison et al. (4) cows graze an average of approximately 9 hr per 24 hr and grazing is equally divided between AM-PM and PM-AM milkings. The cows spent an average of 9 hr per day lying down. Lewis and Johnson (5) observed that cattle in loose housing spent only 5.2 hr daily eating hay or silage and 8.2 hr resting. Recently, Webb et al. (9) reported with four cows under loose housing conditions that the average time for eating silage was 4 hr and for hay 2.25 hr—a total of 6.25 hr for a 24-hr period.

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