Effect of concrete slats versus rubber-covered slats on the performance, behaviour, hoof health, cleanliness of finishing beef steers and performance, cleanliness and hoof health of weanling cattle

Abstract

The objective of this study was to investigate the effect of concrete slats (CS) and rubber covered slats (RM) on (i) animal performance, behaviour, hoof wear, dirt scores, physiological response and carcass traits of ‘finishing’ beef steers (Experiment 1), and (ii) performance, hoof health and dirt scores of suckler-bred weanling cattle undergoing a ‘backgrounding’ period (Experiment 2). Finishing steers (n = 140, 597 kg, SD 28.0; 643 days old, SD 20.7) were blocked by live-weight, breed and age, and randomly allocated to pens of four and assigned to treatment for 120 days (d); (i) CS (n = 17 pens) or (ii) RM (n = 18 pens) at a space allowance of 2.89 m2 per animal. Finishing steers accommodated on RM had greater (P < 0.05) average daily live-weight gain (ADG) (1.15 v. 0.98 kg (SEM; 0.03)), carcass weight (414 v. 403 kg) and superior feed conversion ratio (FCR) (10.6 vs. 12.4 kg DMI/ kg live-weight gain (SEM; 0.15)) compared to those on CS. Additionally steers on RM lay down for longer, had more frequent getting up and lying down movements, lying and standing bouts (P < 0.05). Steers housed on RM had an increase in sharpness in the toe angle of the right front medial claw (P < 0.05) and left hind lateral claw (P < 0.001) and no hoof lesions were reported on either floor type. There was a floor × time (P < 0.05) interaction for dirt scores, whereby no differences existed between treatments from d 0 to 56 but from d 56 until slaughter steers housed on RM were dirtier than those on CS. Suckler-bred weanling cattle (n = 200, 315 kg, SD 18.8; 262 days old, SD 22.2) were blocked by breed, sex, age, weight and diet, and randomly allocated to pens of five assigned to one of 2 treatments for 84 d; (i) CS (n = 20 pens) or (ii) RM (n = 20 pens) at a space allowance of 2.5 m2 per animal. There was no effect (P > 0.05) of floor type on dry matter intake (DMI), ADG, FCR, cleanliness of these “backgrounding” weanling cattle and no reported incidences of hoof lesions on either floor type. In conclusion, under the conditions of these experiments, finishing steers accommodated on RM had enhanced growth and feed efficiency, exhibited lying behaviour indicative of improved comfort compared to steers on CS, and body cleanliness was reduced on the RM at slaughter; however, growth, feed efficiency, cleanliness scores and hoof health of weanling cattle were not affected by the addition of RM to CS.