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18 THE RURAL VOICE
cows working with them will be
more pleasurable. "We have to put
the fun back in it," Anderson says of
dairy farming. "It has to be enjoyable
to go to the barn in the morning."
Employees don't like working in
Karns that make animals sick either,
so a properly designed and
constructed barn can aid in keeping
good staff. he says.
Not only have the videos
helped change the minds of
producers, they've changed
Anderson's ideas as well. At one
point he believed in the value of
brisket boards on the stalls to keep
• cows from moving too far forward
and messing their stalls instead of in
the alleyway. What the videos
showed. however, is that cows were
having to lie too far back in their
stalls because of the brisket boards.
The cows drag their feet on and off
the edge of their stall up 20-30 times
an hour, the camera showed. The
Stuck in an unnatural
sleeping position
cows moved 6-10
times an hour
inside of the hock was dragged over
the edge of the curb, with the friction
wearing off the hair and eventually
scraping the skin, causing swelling
and infection.
The problem is that cattle
normally stretch out forward when
they go to lie down, Anderson says.
They can't do that with a brisket
board in place. Anderson discovered
that, stuck in an unnatural sleeping
position. the restless cows moved
back and forth six to 10 times an
hour and the friction with the
mattress caused the equivalent of bed
sores.
Based on this knowledge, some
producers took the brisket board out
and the result was like a miracle.
There was far less leg movement and
the sores healed.
Like Anderson, producers who see
the video say they didn't know what
was going on in their barn and they
begin to look at things in a different
light. Many frustrated producers
assume that if a supplier is selling