Cows who get their daily steps in live active and healthier lives

 By Joe Morgan via SWNS

Cows need to keep their daily steps up just as humans do, according to a new study.

Mountain pastured cows left to roam are more active and healthier compared to the majority of dairy cows who are kept in cubicles with some space outdoors.

This traditional way of farming was used historically for small herds of dual-purpose breeds, for cheese production and heifer rearing, that would involve being housed in barns in the winter and moved to high pastures in the summer.

But it is steadily becoming a thing of the past with over 80 percent of dairy cows now being kept in pens.

Free cows left to search for fresh grass on their own walk twice as much, at just over 2,000 steps a day, compared to cubicle cows at 917 steps a day.

Some farmers have argued that mountain-pastured cows spend less time lying down and are therefore more likely to become lame.

However, new research has revealed that pasture farming leads to no less likelihood of lameness compared to cows kept in cubicles.

Researchers say that keeping cows outside allows them to "express their natural behaviors."

In the study, 82 cows from two alpine pastures and eight dairy farms with cubicle systems in Switzerland were fitted with high-tech pedometers.

These devices tracked step count, stride length, and time spent lying down.

While mountain pasture cows spent less time lying down than cubicle cows, 528 minutes compared to 693 minutes, they also spent almost twice the time walking (76 minutes vs 39 minutes).

First author Dr. Maher Alsaaod, of the University of Bern, Switzerland, said: "This is the first description of locomotion activity time-budget for dairy cattle housed on mountain pastures

"Mountain pastured cows had a higher locomotor activity level in comparison to the cubicle housed cows.

"Lying markedly less than 12 hours per day seems to represent the normal behaviour of pastured cows searching for fresh grass based on 48 hours measurements.

"Lying is one of the most important behavioural parameters of dairy cows and can provide insights into cow welfare and as an indicator of cow and stall comfort.

"A previous study shows that pastures provide an adequately comfortable lying area. Inadequate lying and prolonged standing time increase the likelihood of lameness developing in cattle.

"However, our data suggested that mountain pasture-based cows spent more time standing than cubicle housed cows.

"No obvious signs of lameness were observed in the mountain pasture-based cows over the course of the study, however, further research regarding the long-term foot health of cows kept in such systems is needed.

"It is likely that this increase in standing behaviour is due to mountain pasture-based cows expressing normal behaviours that are not observed in cubicle housed systems, like searching for fresh forage.

"Mountain pasture-based cows may be spared the foot health issues associated with increased standing as seen in free-stall housing due to the more natural flooring type."

The findings were published in the journal PLOS ONE.