Short communication: The orientation of cubicles plays a role – greater deviation from the north–south direction, more technopathies in dairy cows

Abstract

Magnetic alignment (MA) is a biological phenomenon denoting spontaneous orientation of an animal’s body at rest, when fleeing a threat, hunting, etc. in relation to the Earth’s magnetic field lines, often parallel to the field lines, i.e. in a north–south (NS) direction. MA has been demonstrated in several animal species, including grazing and resting domestic mammals. Based on the assumption that cows prefer to orientate their bodies in the NS direction when resting and sleeping, we hypothesised that MA could contribute to the incidence of technopathies in dairy cows, i.e. various disorders caused by the stable equipment that pose a serious animal welfare problem. It was hypothesised that the incidence of technopathies increases when the cubicles (resting places) orientation deviates from the NS position. The incidence of technopathies was recorded in 34 free-stall dairy farms. The type (hairless patch, scratch, swelling, wound), location and size of the lesions were recorded in almost 1 200 dairy cows. Based on the number of cubicles available and the number of cows, the cubicle-per-cow index (CC index) was calculated and divided into two groups: CC index ≥ 1 for stables with at least one cubicle per cow and CC index < 1 if the number of cows exceeded the number of cubicles available. The orientation of the cubicles was determined by the azimuth (the angle between north and the chosen clockwise direction). The farms were categorised into two groups according to azimuth: NS (azimuth deviating ± 15° from north or south, i.e. 345-15° and 165-195°) and non-NS (azimuth 15-165° and 195-345°). We found that the frequency of cows with technopathies was 30% lower in the NS-orientated cubicles and the number of technopathies per cow was 40% lower in the NS-orientated cubicles than in the non-NS-orientated cubicles. In addition, a higher number of technopathies per cow was observed when the CC index was ≥ 1, with a significant difference in the non-NS-aligned cubicles. According to our results, cubicle orientation has some influence on the incidence of technopathies. Although biological phenomena such as MA are seemingly unimportant and usually overlooked, they should be considered in livestock production when planning the positioning of stable equipment/ cubicle.