Effect of a high welfare floor and a concrete slatted floor on the growth performance, behavior and cleanliness of Charolais and Limousin heifers : a case study

Leskovec, Jakob (author), Voljč, Mojca (author), Žgur, Silvester (author)

Various floor systems are used in cattle housing with different characteristics in terms of roughness, abrasion, wetness, bedding material, ease of cleaning, etc. Thus, the activity and welfare of the animals are greatly influenced by the type of floor. The floor of the barn can influence the development of health diseases, technopathies and the production and quality of animal products. Therefore, in the present case study, we studied the effects of two different flooring systems on the performance and on some behavioral and cleanliness parameters in heifers. Two floor systems (concrete slatted flooring (CSF) and high welfare flooring (HWF)) and two breeds (Charolais and Limousin) were used in the experiment. Heifers on HWF tended to show a higher frequency of grooming, rubbing and aggression than those on CSF, but not of standing, lying, eating, drinking, rumination, resting, stereotypies and covering of the animals. In addition, animals housed on HWF also appeared to show higher cleanliness than those housed on CSF. Results indicated that animals housed on HWF exhibited more social and self-care behaviors, suggesting that animals housed on such floors show more species-specific behaviors and have higher welfare.

• Language: English
• Keywords: high welfare floor, beef heifers, behavior, cleanliness, Limousin, Charolais
• Work type: Article
• Typology: 1.01 - Original Scientific Article
• Organization: BF - Biotechnical Faculty
• Publication status: Published
• Publication version: Version of Record
• Year: 2022
• Number of pages: 9 str.
• Numbering: Vol. 12, iss. 7, art. 859
• PID: 20.500.12556/RUL-136358
• UDC: 636.2:591.5
• ISSN on article: 2076-2615
• DOI: 10.3390/ani12070859
• COBISS.SI-ID: 104251651
• Publication date in RUL: 25.04.2022

Record is a part of a journal

• Title: Animals
• Shortened title: Animals
• Publisher: MDPI
• ISSN: 2076-2615
• COBISS.SI-ID: 519120409

Licences

• License: CC BY 4.0, Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International
• Link: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/
• Description: This is the standard Creative Commons license that gives others maximum freedom to do what they want with the work as long as they credit the author.
• Licensing start date: 01.04.2022

Secondary language

• Language: Slovenian
• Keywords: govedo, dobrobit živali, etologija, obnašanje živali, telice, pasme, šarole govedo, limuzin govedo, rast, čistoča, tla