The Rural Voice, 2001-05, Page 18Learning lessons from the
CANDID COW
CAMERA
r. Heil Anderson's spyini
on cows helps makes
them healthier, happier
and more productive
By Keith Roulston
Dr. Neil Anderson has been
watching videos he calls "a
revelation" and like many
fans, he wants to share his
enthusiasm for what he saw with
others.
The videos Anderson, a
veterinarian with OMAFRA's Fergus
office, began viewing in the fall of
1998 might be termed "reality TV".
He placed a video camera in a dairy
barn, left it running even when no
one was in the barn, and learned
astonishing things about the way
cows really behave. It's changed his
perceptions of how barns andstalls
should be designed, and he's been
getting the word out to dairy farmers
across the province. The good news
story is that many perceptive
producers and contractors have been
taking a new look at the way things
are done in the barn.
That very first video brought three
revelations to Anderson, and through
him to the owner of the new free -stall
barn where he first set up the
equipment. He'd been called in to
help ferret out the reason for
problems fresh cows were having in
14 THE RURAL VOICE
the barn in getting off to a good start
in their lactation. Cattle were just
lapping at water and not drinking
enough to reach full milk production.
The suspicion was there was a stray
voltage problem.
Of the dozen cattle in this loose
housing area, several were also
suffering from a crippled hind leg,
always on the same side.
Anderson had just obtained his
video equipment and decided to use
it in his investigation. The waterer
the cows used had a cover with two
holes in it through which the cows
were supposed to stick their noses to
drink. After some initial videotaping,
Anderson asked the barn's owner to
take the cover off the tank and
continue the taping. The video shows
the owner taking the top off and
walking away. By the time the farmer
got to the other end of the barn, cows
were standing at the waterer drinking
long and deep. The conclusion was
that it wasn't a stray voltage problem
at all, but that the cows were
uncomfortable sticking their noses
through the holes to drink. When
they could see the water, they happily
drank their fill.
The mystery of the lame cows was
also revealed by the camera. The pen
had a divider gate. Cattle would be
locked down at the head rail then the
gate would be swung open. The
video showed a hired hand, in doing
his work, would fling this gate open
and it would hit the cows in the hind
leg.
"It was a diagnosis that the
veterinary practitioner or the owner
could not make but the camera
caught," Anderson says.
That first video session also
revealed a third secret. A barn
check was done each night at
10:00 p.m. with the worker walking
the full length of the barn and back.
But the video showed the white
ceramic tile of the feed area gleaming
through a thin layer of feed, instead
of the feed being pushed up where
the cattle could get to it. Feed for
cattle needs to be like an all -you -can -
eat buffet, Anderson says: you need
to keep it freshened up by pushing
the feed up several times a day if you
want cattle to eat properly and
produce to their potential.
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