Animal Handling Procedures and Facilities Used by Dairy Producers to Conduct Health and Reproductive Examinations

Abstract

The objectives of this study were to observe procedures and protocols used on large dairies during routine activities, such as herd health events, and to collect preliminary information that could be used to design a research project to define the annualized cost of different animal handling systems currently being used on modern dairy farms. Ten Wisconsin commercial dairy farms were observed when their veterinarian conducted routine herd health and reproductive examinations. On-farm veterinary time, times of actual veterinarian examinations, and perceived advantages and disadvantages of systems were recorded. Six different systems to select and restrain animals were identified: sort gate to pen with self-locking (SL)manger stalls(sort-to-SLpen),sort gate to palpation rail(PR)(sort-to-PR),all animals restrained in PR retuning from parlor(all-in-PR),all animals restrained in return lane from parlor(all-in-return-lane),all animals restrained in SL manger stalls in home pen(home-pen-with-SL),and selected animals cornered in home pen(home-pen-corner-in-FS). Average veterinarian on-farm time results were 1.86min per cow (home-pen-with-SL), 2.07min per cow (all-in-PR), 2.43min per cow (home-pen-corner-in-FS), 2.73min per cow (sort-to-PR), 3.38min per cow (all-in-return-lane), and 3.43min per cow (sort-to-SL pen). Veterinarian exam time results were 1.19min per cow (all-in-return-lane), 1.31min per cow (sort-to-PR), 1.49min per cow (all-in-PR), 1.63min per cow (home-pen-with-SL), 2.26min per cow (home-pen-corner-in-FS), and 2.43min per cow (sort-to-SL pen). The time associated with handling animals, according to different animal handling systems, varied by farm and was caused by system and operator differences. Selecting, consolidating, and treating animals in a separate place reduced work time per animal, but increased on-farm time per animal. The home-pen-with-SL system had the least average veterinarian on-farm time.