Effect of housing systems and sprinkling water on production and reproduction performances of crossbred dairy cow Thirumurugan P*, Saseendran Pc** Faculty of Veterinary Science and AH, RS Pura, Jammu-181 102, India. *Division of Livestock Production and Management, E-mail: muruganvetlpm@rediffmail.com.
**Department of Livestock Production Management, College of Veterinary and Animal Sciences, Mannuthy, Thrissur-680 651.
Abstract An experiment was conducted to find out the effect of housing systems and sprinkling water on crossbred cow during summer season of Kerala. Twelve early lactating cows were put into four groups of three each and were randomly allotted to four treatments viz: loose house with sprinkler (T1), loose house without sprinkler (T2), tie-barn with sprinkler (T3) and tie-barn without sprinkler (T4). Mean maximum temperature at all the four treatment locations were lower (P<0.01) than the maximum temperature recorded at outside environment (35.45°C). Both within the tie-barn and within the loose house the mean maximum and minimum temperature and mean relative humidity at morning and afternoon did not differ (P>0.05) due to sprinkling of water. But the differences between the tie-barn and loose house were highly significant (P<0.01) and higher in the tie-barn for all these variables. Free ventilation prevailed at loose house was equally effective to that of cooling of cows by sprinkling with water in the tie-barn. Average daily milk yield of cows in T1 was significantly (P<0.01) higher than milk yield of cows in T2, T3 and T4. Milk total solids, SNF, fat and protein percentages did not vary between treatments. Sprinkling water in T1 and T3 encouraged feeding and rumination of cows during hot hours of the day and consumed significantly more feed. Water intake differed (P<0.01) between treatments and highest in the T4 (41.72 kg/d). Sprinkling of water in T1 and T3 increased the intensity and duration of oestrus and successful insemination rate. The results suggest that during summer season of Kerala state loose housing and sprinkling of water during hot hours of the day may be practiced to alleviate heat stress and prevent drop in milk production and fertility rate. Top Key words Loose housing, Tie-barn, Sprinkler, Milk production. Top |