National Academy of Agricultural Sciences (NAAS)
|
PRINT ISSN : 2319-7692
Online ISSN : 2319-7706 Issues : 12 per year Publisher : Excellent Publishers Email : editorijcmas@gmail.com / submit@ijcmas.com Editor-in-chief: Dr.M.Prakash Index Copernicus ICV 2018: 95.39 NAAS RATING 2020: 5.38 |
Housing system and resting surface have influence on milk yield and reproductive performance as much as by feeding and keeping methods in dairy herd. Different types of bedding materials are used by livestock owners according to their availability, waste management, ease to use cost and environment. Good quality bedding materials contribute to better health and cow comfort. In recent years, many efforts have been undertaken to improve health and performance of dairy animals by modifying the housing environment. Different types of bedding materials like straw, limestone, sand, sawdust, wood chips, newspaper, manure solids, rice hulls etc. are used for dairy animals according to requirement. Dairy farmers prefer different floor type like rubber, stones, gravels, bricks, concrete, mates and mattress etc. for providing comfort to the animals according to their own status. Poorly designed stall and bedding facilities cause an increased risk of productive, reproductive performance and lameness in dairy animals including decrease in there resting phase (Cook et al., 2009). Depth and height of bedding materials is also an important factor for dairy cows comfort. A minimum of 25 cm depth of sand bedding is required (Buli et al., 2010). Deep bedded laying surface also provides more comfortable to the lame dairy cows (Jensen et al., 2015). A loss of about 70% in milk yield due to mastitis. Organic bedding materials contain higher number of environmental bacteria than inorganic materials. Inorganic bedding material is also best for cow comfort as compared to other as SCC is less in the inorganic bedding materials. Inorganic materials require less renewal than organic bedding. Bacterial counts and types found in bedding materials have a positive correlation with the bacteria present on the teat end (Zdanowicz et al., 2004).
Citations |
 |
 |
 |
 |
