CASE STUDY: Characterization of lying behavior in dairy cows transitioning from a freestall barn with pasture access to a compost bedded pack barn without pasture access

Lying times of 10 lactating Holstein cows were monitored using an activity monitor to assess lying times. Changes were recorded while transitioning from a freestall barn with pasture access to a newly constructed compost bedded pack barn in a private dairy herd. An IceTag (IceRobotics Ltd., Roslin, Scotland, UK) animal activity-monitoring sensor measuring posture (lying vs. standing) and steps was attached to a hind leg of each cow above the fetlock. The MIXED procedure of SAS version 9.3 (SAS Institute Inc., Cary, NC) was used to fit a model describing the differences in lying time between the 2 housing systems. More cow days were recorded (n = 495) for the freestall barn than the compost bedded pack barn (n = 132). Overall, lying times were longer for sound cows (locomotion category ≤ 2, 11.6 ± 0.5 h/d) than lame cows (locomotion category ≥ 3, 10.5 ± 0.5 h/d) (P < 0.01). In the freestall and pasture system, sound cows lay down more than lame cows (10.1 ± 0.5 and 8.0 ± 0.5 h/d, respectively, P < 0.05); however, after transition to the compost bedded pack barn, there was no difference in lying time between lame and sound cows (13.1 ± 0.5 h/d, respectively, P < 0.05). Overall, hours of lying per day were longer (P < 0.01) after the cows transitioned into the compost barn from the freestall barn with pasture access (least squares means 13.1 ± 0.5 and 9.6 ± 0.5 h/d, respectively).