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Animals
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The Advances in Cattle Housing System
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The Advances in Cattle Housing System

A special issue of Animals (ISSN 2076-2615). This special issue belongs to the section "Cattle".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (31 January 2024) | Viewed by 6485

Special Issue Editor

Dr. Dorota Witkowska

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
Department of Animal and Environmental Hygiene, Faculty of Animal Bioengineering, University of Warmia and Mazury in Olsztyn, 10-719 Olsztyn, Poland
Interests: animal welfare and hygiene; housing systems; microclimate; air pollutants; bioaerosol; toxic gases; odors; dusts; zoonotic risk hazards; essential oils

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

According to the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO), the global cattle population is projected to increase from 1.5 billion in 2000 to 2.7 billion in 2050. Depending on the climate, natural resources, population size, tradition and culture and degree of economic development across countries the production of beef and dairy differ significantly. In developing countries, the population of cattle evolves rapidly, whereas in developed countries the advanced housing systems go rather towards to increasing animal welfare, food quality and environmental sustainability. There is no doubt that the cattle breeding sector needs to address the emerging challenge that global warming and environment protection, because contributes significantly to pollutes the air, soil and water, and can reduce biodiversity. The cattle sectors are constant sources of CO2 and a major anthropogenic source of CH4, whose global warming potential is over 20 times higher in comparison with CO2. In the light of the latest scientific research, different processes and technical systems applied in barns may exert a considerable influence on the animal welfare and the environment protection.

Original manuscripts that address any aspects of advanced cattle housing systems are invited for this Special Issue. Topics of special interest are how housing systems (e.g. type of floor, bedding material, ventilation, microclimate, hygiene, manure management, monitoring) relate to cattle welfare, health, behaviour, physiology and productivity. We invite original research papers that concern improved methods for greenhouse, toxic or odours gases, dusts, microbial contaminations or other environmental pollutants reduction.

Dr. Dorota Witkowska
Guest Editor

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Animals is an international peer-reviewed open access semimonthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2400 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

Keywords

  • cattle
  • housing systems
  • welfare
  • behaviour
  • hygiene
  • health
  • sustainability
  • pollutants
  • emission
  • global warming

Published Papers (3 papers)

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Research

13 pages, 3002 KiB  
Article
Evaluation of Suitability of New Bedding Material Obtained after Straw Biogasification for Dairy Cows
by Robert Kupczyński, Michał Bednarski, Anna Budny-Walczak and Wojciech Kociuba
Animals 2023, 13(12), 1905; https://doi.org/10.3390/ani13121905 - 07 Jun 2023
Viewed by 1245
Abstract
This study aimed to compare the biomass obtained via the biogasification of straw with the classic bedding material, wheat straw. It was divided into two stages. In the first stage, a laboratory evaluation of the bedding materials was carried out, taking into account [...] Read more.
This study aimed to compare the biomass obtained via the biogasification of straw with the classic bedding material, wheat straw. It was divided into two stages. In the first stage, a laboratory evaluation of the bedding materials was carried out, taking into account dry matter, pH, and water absorption. In the laboratory tests, the bedding obtained after the biogasification of straw (Verbio) showed better sorptive properties, with a value of 439.86% (wheat straw’s value was 294.10%), and its pH value was higher than that of wheat straw. In the second stage of the experiment, field tests were carried out on a production farm, wherein the bedding was evaluated for bedding hygiene, animal hygiene, insulation properties, animal productivity, and microbiological properties. A microbiological assessment was also performed. Regarding cleanliness and production parameters and thermographic insulation properties, the two types of bedding did not show statistically significant differences. In terms of microbiological parameters, a higher number of all examined types of bacteria and fungi was observed in the Verbio bedding compared with straw, but these differences were not statistically significant, except in the case of total coliform. The results indicate that straw obtained after gasification is a suitable bedding material, with parameters similar to those of wheat straw. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue The Advances in Cattle Housing System)
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10 pages, 511 KiB  
Article
Analysis of the Horizontal Distribution of Sampling Points for Gas Concentrations Monitoring in an Open-Sided Dairy Barn
by Provvidenza Rita D’Urso, Claudia Arcidiacono and Giovanni Cascone
Animals 2022, 12(23), 3258; https://doi.org/10.3390/ani12233258 - 23 Nov 2022
Cited by 3 | Viewed by 865
Abstract
In the livestock sector, the monitoring of gas concentrations plays a relevant role in the implementation of mitigation strategies, as well as the improvement in the indoor air quality for both workers and animals in barns. In the present study, measurements of gas [...] Read more.
In the livestock sector, the monitoring of gas concentrations plays a relevant role in the implementation of mitigation strategies, as well as the improvement in the indoor air quality for both workers and animals in barns. In the present study, measurements of gas concentrations (NH3, CH4, and CO2) at different locations were carried out in an open dairy barn using a commercial photo-acoustic spectroscopy system. Measurement variability for different datasets was computed to contribute to the evaluation of the sampling strategy in the measurement campaign. The results showed that the position of sampling locations (SLs) significantly influenced (p < 0.001) the variability in the gas distribution. Specifically, the SLs located on the perimeter of the building had the highest variability. The number of SLs utilised for determining the mean value of gas concentration in the barn had a significant influence on NH3 (p < 0.001), CO2 (p < 0.001), and CH4 (p < 0.001) in both the central zone and the perimeter one. At least three SLs were necessary to obtain a mean value of gas concentration that reduced the variability to under the 10% in the central zone and 16% in the perimeter one. Moreover, the NH3 concentrations obtained as the mean value of the gas measurements at two SLs with a 10 m distance had a lower variability compared to those recorded at two SLs located at 5 m. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue The Advances in Cattle Housing System)
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17 pages, 4133 KiB  
Article
The Effect of Housing System on Disease Prevalence and Productive Lifespan of Dairy Herds—A Case Study
by Dorota Witkowska and Aneta Ponieważ
Animals 2022, 12(13), 1610; https://doi.org/10.3390/ani12131610 - 22 Jun 2022
Cited by 9 | Viewed by 3338
Abstract
Selected technological solutions can impact health status of animals. The aim of this case study was to determine the effect of different housing systems on disease prevalence and the productive lifespan of dairy cows. In total, 480 cows kept indoors on one farm [...] Read more.
Selected technological solutions can impact health status of animals. The aim of this case study was to determine the effect of different housing systems on disease prevalence and the productive lifespan of dairy cows. In total, 480 cows kept indoors on one farm in four buildings using four different housing systems (a free-stall barn with a slatted floor; a free-stall barn with a self-cleaning floor; an open-pack barn with deep litter; a tie-stall barn with shallow litter) were analyzed. The data from 6 years, based on veterinary reports, were processed statistically in Statistica 13.00. The study demonstrated that the average productive lifespan was longer (p ≤ 0.01), by up to more than 8 months, in the system with deep litter, which was also characterized by the lowest disease prevalence (p ≤ 0.01), especially foot and some reproductive disorders. This trend was maintained in each year of the study period (2015–2020). In the tie-stall barn, the prevalence of mastitis was reduced, but the risk of lameness, retained placenta, parturient paresis and displaced abomasum was higher in this system (p ≤ 0.01). Overall morbidity was highest in the free-stall barns. Lower morbidity was associated with an increase in productive herd life. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue The Advances in Cattle Housing System)
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