Dairy cow preference and usage of an alternative freestall design

Freestall housing for dairy cows was created to reduce the amount of bedding and labor needed to keep stalls clean. However, some aspects of stall design may restrict stall usage by cows. The aim of this study was to assess dairy cow preference and usage of a conventional stall (with a neck rail and metal stall dividers) and an alternative stall design with no neck rail or stall dividers other than a wooden board protruding slightly (8 cm) above the lying surface. In the no-choice phase of the study, 48 cows were randomly assigned to 8 groups (of 6 cows each); groups were alternately allocated to the 2 treatments. Each group was observed for 7 d on one treatment and then switched to the alternate treatment for 7 d. For the choice phase (also 7 d), groups in adjacent pens were merged (to form 4 groups, each with 12 cows) and cows had free access to both treatments within the merged pen. In the no-choice phase, cows spent more time standing with 4 hooves in the alternative versus conventional freestall (0.60 ± 0.06 vs. 0.05 ± 0.06 h/d), but stall designs had no effect on time spent lying down (13.2 ± 0.4 vs. 12.9 ± 0.4 h/d). In the choice phase, cows spent more time lying down in the conventional freestall (9.4 ± 0.8 vs. 4.1 ± 0.8 h/d) and more time standing with all 4 hooves in the alternative stall (0.24 ± 0.03 vs. 0.02 ± 0.03 h/d). These results illustrate how different stall design features can affect different types of stall use; the more open design facilitated standing fully in the stall, but the protruding partitions likely made the stall less suitable for lying.