Vol. 12, Special Issue 9 (2023)

In dairy farming, bedding and its management contribute predominantly to the behavior of cows. Dairy cows express normal behavioural patterns, only if provided with sufficient space and adequate facilities. Dairy cows prioritise resting over other behaviours and those who are denied the opportunity to lie down exhibit behavioural and physiological abnormalities (Munksgaard and Thomsen, 2012) [10]. As the behavior of cows has a direct relation with the comfort and quality of milk, the present study was undertaken to evaluate the different behavior expressed in bedding systems of crossbred cows. The study was carried out on twenty four crossbred cows at the Cattle farm of the Instructional Livestock Farm Complex, Pookode, Wayanad District in Kerala state for one lactation period in three seasons. The effect of different bedding materials such as, rubber mats, coir pith and dried Dried Solid Manure (DSM) was compared with concrete floor on the behavior of crossbred dairy cows. The lying behaviour of cows viz., lying time per day (h), night time lying (h), day time lying (h), duration of lying bouts (h) and total number of lying bouts (nos.) in different bedding materials were recorded. The cows maintained on concrete floor had significantly (p<0.01) shortest overall mean lying time (09.23±0.04h) per day while the cows on coir pith had the longest lying time per day (11.15±0.05h). Overall, the total number of lying bouts of 8.13±0.18 and 7.31±0.17 no was exhibited by cows on rubber mat and DSM, respectively with significant difference (p<0.01) between them. Coirpith and DSM as bedding material could be recommended for use by dairy farmers when compared to rubber mats and concrete floor bedding for improving cow comfort and milk production.