Alley floor Cleanliness in Dairy Cubicle Barns

Different alley flooring systems have been found to influence claw health and locomotion among dairy cows in cubicle barns. The ability to keep the alley floors clean and dry is part of this. It is, however, challenging to keep the alleys clean at all time. Different cleaning regimes are used, and barns are equipped with a diversity of scrapers and alley surfaces. Scrapers are earlier found to greatly improve the hygiene on rubber-slatted alley floors. The objective of the present study was to evaluate how different alley flooring systems and cleaning regimes influenced floor cleanliness in dairy cubicle barns. 231 barns from different parts of Norway were included in this study. Manure accumulation (depth of manure) in the alleys was measured at 16 different locations in each alley using a traditional ruler. In addition, floor type (solid vs. slatted floors, rubber on solid or slatted floors), type of manure scrapers and frequency of scraping were observed. The most common floor types were slatted concrete floors (57%) and solid concrete floors (35%), while 7% had solid rubber floors and 1% had slatted rubber floors. Preliminary results show that slatted floors had significant less manure accumulated compared to solid floors. Regardless of floor type, the cleanest part of the alley was in front of the feed bunk while the amount of manure increased across the alley. The variation in accumulated manure in the alleys indicates that floor type and cleaning regime influence on alley cleanliness and thereby on cow cleanliness and hygiene.