Leg lesions and cleanliness of finishing bulls kept in housing systems with different lying area surfaces

The influence of the quality of different lying surfaces on lesions and swellings at the joints as well as on the cleanliness of finishing bulls throughout the fattening period was studied. On 17 farms (623 bulls), pens with fully slatted concrete floors (CONCRETE), with rubber coated slats (RUBBER), with cubicles (CUBICLES, provided with five different types of soft lying mat) and with a littered lying area (STRAW) were compared. Bulls kept on STRAW developed the smallest lesion scores at the joints. In CUBICLES, there was a huge variability in the lesion scores depending on the type of lying mat, ranging from values comparable to STRAW up to and greater than the values for CONCRETE. The highest lesion scores at the carpal joints were found on CONCRETE, with intermediate values on RUBBER and in CUBICLES. At the tarsal joints, lesion scores were similar on CONCRETE and RUBBER and in the same range or worse on most mats in the CUBICLES. Swelling scores were highest on CONCRETE and intermediate on RUBBER and in CUBICLES compared to STRAW. In general, there was a steady increase in the lesion scores of the leg joints throughout the fattening period on CONCRETE, RUBBER and STRAW, whereas on some of the mats in CUBICLES these scores were at a high level from early on in the fattening period. Animals in all the housing systems were clean over the whole fattening period. Littering the lying area in CUBICLES affected neither the lesion scores nor the swelling scores at the joints nor animal cleanliness. In conclusion, both rubber coated slats and cubicles provided with soft lying mats were favourable with regard to the levels of lesions and swellings of the leg joints of finishing bulls compared to concrete slats. However, these levels were even lower in pens with a straw bedded lying area.