the analysis, the sum of injuries found in all cows checked on a given farm was calculated separately for each joint. As the number of cows differed between farms, data
Ž .
were standardised incidence per 100 cows for the statistical analysis. 2.5. Statistical analysis
The farms were treated as independent observational units. As a consequence, average values per farm were calculated regarding lying behaviour and leg injuries.
Ž . Nonparametric statistics were used. It was tested a
whether farms using cubicle systems with straw bedding differed significantly from farms using cubicle systems with
Ž .
Ž . soft lying mats Mann–Whitney U-tests; Siegel and Castellan, 1988 and b whether
there was a significant inhomogeneity in the data collected on farms using different Ž
. types of soft lying mats Kruskal–Wallis tests; Siegel and Castellan, 1988 . The alpha
Ž .
level was therefore adjusted to 0.025 Bonferroni correction .
3. Results
The duration of both lying down and standing up movements did not differ significantly between cows kept in cubicle systems with straw bedding and cows kept in
Ž cubicle systems with soft lying mats lying down: N s 5, N s 13, U s 25, P s 0.46;
1 2
. standing up: U s 29, P s 0.77; Table 2 . There was also no significant inhomogeneity
in the duration of these movements measured on farms using different types of soft lying Ž
. mats lying down: H s 3.8, P s 0.28; standing up: H s 1.4, P s 0.72 . Behavioural
elements indicating difficulties in lying down or standing up behaviour were rare on all lying area surfaces.
Ž .
Neither the total duration of lying behaviour per 24 h U s 23, P s 0.35 nor the Ž
. average duration of lying bouts U s 28, P s 0.66 differed significantly between cows
kept in cubicle systems with straw bedding and cows kept in cubicle systems with soft
Table 2 Ž
. Total number of lying down and standing up movements recorded, average duration in seconds of such
Ž .
movements and rate incidence per movement of behavioural elements indicating difficulties in these two movements in cows kept in cubicle systems with different lying area surfaces. Minimum and maximum values
are given in parentheses Lying area surface
Lying down Standing up
No. of Duration
Rate of No. of
Duration Rate of
movements difficulties
movements difficulties
Ž .
Ž .
Straw bedding 111
4.6 2–13 0.11
107 7.7 2–35
0.25 Ž
. Ž
. CowComfort
68 5.1 3–13
0.22 62
6.6 2–23 0.02
Ž .
Ž .
Kraiburg 103
4.8 2–10 0.35
83 6.8 2–29
0.16 Ž
. Ž
. Mouflex
82 4.9 3–9
0.29 65
7.9 2–45 0.23
Ž .
Ž .
Pasture 80
4.7 3–24 0.23
75 8.3 2–31
0.25
Table 3 Ž
. Ž
. Average duration of lying behaviour per 24 h in minutes , mean duration of lying bouts in minutes and
average number of lying bouts per 24 h in cows kept in cubicle systems with different lying area surfaces. Minimum and maximum values are given in parentheses
Lying area surface Total duration of lying
Lying bout length No. of lying bouts
Ž .
Ž .
Ž .
Straw bedding 696 617–796
63 55–70 13 11–15
Ž .
Ž .
Ž .
CowComfort 676 584–757
53 43–68 15 12–17
Ž .
Ž .
Ž .
Kraiburg 684 657–732
67 63–73 13 12–13
Ž .
Ž .
Ž .
Mouflex 645 610–694
64 57–70 12 10–14
Ž .
Ž .
Ž .
Pasture 654 596–687
67 64–71 12 10–14
Ž .
lying mats Table 3 . There was also no statistically significant inhomogeneity in these Ž
durations measured on farms using different types of soft lying mats total duration of .
lying behaviour: H s 0.5, P s 0.91; duration of lying bouts: H s 2.9, P s 0.41 . The average number of lying bouts per 24 h was almost equal on all farms.
In 60 of all cows checked on farms with straw bedding no leg injuries were found at all. With cows kept in cubicle systems with soft lying mats, this percentage was
Ž .
considerably lower Mouflex: 22; CowComfort: 9; Pasture: 2; Kraiburg: 0 . Leg injuries were most frequent in the carpal and tarsal joints with averages of 1.34 and 3.15
injuries per cow, respectively. For the front ankle, the hind ankle and the knee, these Ž
. figures were much lower 0.17, 0.0 and 0.16 injuries per cow, respectively .
Cows kept in cubicle systems with soft lying mats had a significantly higher Ž
. incidence of both hairless patches more than 2 cm in diameter U s 0, P - 0.001 and
Ž .
scabs or wounds less than 2 cm in diameter U s 0, P - 0.001 located in the tarsal Ž
. joints than cows kept in cubicle systems with straw bedding Table 4 . As regards the
carpal joints, on the other hand, the incidence of leg injuries did not differ significantly Ž
between the two housing conditions hairless patches more than 2 cm in diameter: .
U s 21.5, P s 0.28; scabs or wounds less than 2 cm in diameter: U s 17.5, P s 0.14 .
Table 4 Ž
. Average number of leg injuries per 100 cows in the carpal and tarsal joints of cows kept in cubicle systems
with different lying area surfaces. Minimum and maximum values are given in parentheses Location
Lying area surface Hairless patches
Scabs and wounds - 2 cm
2 cm - 2 cm
Ž .
Ž .
Ž .
Tarsal joints Straw bedding
19 5–64 0 0–0
5 0–14 Ž
. Ž
. Ž
. CowComfort
143 122–167 115 58–183
177 67–250 Ž
. Ž
. Ž
. Kraiburg
234 170–335 124 41–190
190 153–236 Ž
. Ž
. Ž
. Mouflex
121 94–141 26 11–45
61 39–91 Ž
. Ž
. Ž
. Pasture
169 108–236 60 44–91
101 24–147 Ž
. Ž
. Ž
. Carpal joints
Straw bedding 37 11–66
8 0–28 1 0–3
Ž .
Ž .
Ž .
CowComfort 78 43–117
6 0–17 6 0–9
Ž .
Ž .
Ž .
Kraiburg 117 87–145
23 14–47 7 0–29
Ž .
Ž .
Ž .
Mouflex 39 31–56
10 0–17 9 0–17
Ž .
Ž .
Ž .
Pasture 66 29–91
8 2–16 14 12–16
Hairless patches less than 2 cm in diameter were not analysed statistically, as scabs and Ž
wounds less than 2 cm in diameter which varied significantly in frequency between .
lying area surfaces coincided with small hairless patches. Scabs and wounds more than 2 cm in diameter were very rare and only observed in tarsal joints. There were no
significant inhomogeneities in cows kept in cubicle systems with different types of soft Ž
lying mats regarding hairless patches more than 2 cm in diameter tarsal joints: H s 6.0, .
P s 0.11; carpal joints: H s 3.6, P s 0.31 and scabs or wounds less than 2 cm in Ž
. diameter tarsal joints: H s 6.8, P s 0.08; carpal joints: H s 3.2, P s 0.36 .
4. Discussion
