Observations on the incidence of teat injuries in different cowsheds

The study comprises 647 reported teat injuries occurring in 212 farms over a period of four years. The farms had an average of 10.9 cows or total of some 2300 cows annually. The annual incidence of teat injury in each herd was calculated. There were 3 types of cowsheds in this material: 1) Short standing cowsheds with a dung grid, the incidence of teat injury being 9.1 +/- 8.7 per 100 cows per annum, 2) short standing cowsheds with a solid manure system, the incidence being 4.1 +/- 5.2 per 100 cows per annum and 3) long standing cowsheds with a solid manure system, the incidence being 5.7 +/- 7.8 per 100 cows per annum. There are significant differences between incidences 1 and 2 as well as between the indicences 1 and 3. In short standing cowsheds the stall length had a strong influence on the incidence of teat injury: the longer the short stall, the less the incidence of teat injury. In modern cowsheds there were less teat injuries than in older cowsheds.