The Rural Voice, 2001-05, Page 23equipment, it must be a proven
technology that's best for the
animals, he says.
But some suppliers are catching
onto the message too. Anderson tells
of one farmer who was planning a
new barn who had several different
salespeople pitching their products.
One astute salesman brought along a
video similar to those made by
Anderson in his experiments. The
video showed exactly what cows do
when the barn is built to their
specifications. Anderson urges
producers not to buy equipment until
they know how it will affect their
COWS.
The videos undermine some
long -held beliefs. Anderson
tells of a recent U.S.
conference where another speaker
told producers that if a high
percentage of cows were lying down,
they were happy and content. He
used to believe that himself,
Anderson says, but videos show that,
just as people can be lying down in
bed but don't get much sleep if the
bed isn't comfortable, so cows can
"We can change stalls
so cows can be more
rested."
still be lying down but not relaxed.
"You can see they're restless," he
says of the cows video-taped. "We
can change the stalls so we can get
them to be more rested."
The same principles apply in tie -
stall barns. Anderson tells of
experiments by Listowel
veterinarians who convinced farmers
to lengthen tie chains from 21 to 34
inches. Cattle previously hadn't been
able to exhibit the sane kind of
natural sleeping behaviour you'd see
in cattle on pasture where they lie
their heads well back along their
flanks. With longer chains, cattle
could suddenly do that and they were
less restless. Previously you could
hear cattle wheezing as they tried to
stretch into their natural position but
were choked by their chains.
There was an added bonus in this
change, Anderson says. Cows with
longer chains could demonstrate
GB
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1-519-539-7550
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• Agricultural Concrete Traction Milling Process 'Patent Pending'
MAY 2001 19