Analysis of Calf Individual Housing During the Milk Nutrition Period in Dairy Herds in the Czech Republic

STANĚK, S., DOLEŽAL, O., ZINK, V. & STÁDNÍK, L. Analýza individuálního ustájení telat v období mléčné výživy ve stádech dojeného skotu v České republice. Agritech Science, 2014, roč. 2014, č. 2, s. 1-7.{INTLINK}
STANĚK, Stanislav, DOLEŽAL, Oldřich, ZINK, Vojtěch and STÁDNÍK, Luděk. Analysis of Calf Individual Housing During the Milk Nutrition Period in Dairy Herds in the Czech Republic. Agritech Science, 2014, vol. 2014(2), p. 1-7. ISSN .
Year2014
CathegoryOthers
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Abstract

The inquires were made in 77 Czech Fleckvieh breeds (C) and 59 Holstein breeds (H). One of the goals was to describe individual types of calf housing. The calves were separated from the cows in less than 12 hours after calving in 87.5% in all the breeds. Individual housing was prefered in 96.7% of all farms, most often outside individual boxes (74.3%). Tied housing was not used on any of the farms. Technologies in the Czech Republic were usually located in outside area (54.6%), under the shelters (34.8%) and in the barns for dairy cows and calves (10.6%). In comparison to the H breeds the calves in C breeds were 5.5 times more often housed in the barns for cows and calves than under the shelters (p=0.0409). The material most often used for individual housing were plastic (63.1%) and wood (29.0%). Hutches and pens for calves were in our survey placed on reinforced surfaces (concrete floor, asphalt-concrete areas) on 80.9% of farms. Straw bedding was changed during the rearing just in 5.5% cases. Calves were housed individually for a median 57 days (C breeds 56 days, H breeds 60 days). However this difference was not statistical significant (p=0.171). The technologies newer than 5 years were in 49.6% of all farms and older than 15 years in 8.1% od all farms. The level of calf housing in the Czech Republic is very high and is comparable with the countries where the level of breeding is highly developed.