Cow Recovery: The Sustainable Solution for Improving Downer Cow Outcomes

偶尔会有倒下的奶牛，由于生病或受伤而无法在没有帮助的情况下站起来，这是所有乳制品单位生活中的一个事实。她可能在最初的急救后立即站起来；如果没有，则必须将其转移到医院围栏进行进一步评估、护理或兽医护理。牛是一种难以实际和人道地移动的动物，因为它们的大小，所有现有的技术都有缺点。奶牛康复项目是一项创新的农民/兽医合作项目，旨在通过提供一种更安全的替代方法，结合兽医培训，改善奶牛的治疗效果。奶牛恢复桶，可以连接到大多数英国奶牛场的机器上，具有关键的适应性，使其特别适合移动倒下的奶牛，并适当地涂漆，以提高公众的理解，并确保一个单一的目的。它使两名牧场主能够以无压力的方式将躺着的奶牛移动到合适的位置，而不会有伤害自己或动物的风险。一项为期12个月的研究将在10个主要的奶牛场进行，将获得他们使用桶式挤奶的经验与以前的技术相比较的反馈，并跟踪被转移奶牛的结果；包括不良事件，短期和长期生存以及农场工人自身的经历。从这项研究中获得的经验将通过兽医培训材料分享，以创建一个安全和人道地处理昏倒牛的标准化蓝图。改进对躺着的奶牛的处理有可能降低死亡率；提高福利、生产力、效率、声誉，从而提高英国乳制品行业的可持续性和弹性。

The occasional downer cow, who cannot rise unaided due to illness or injury, is a fact of life on all dairy units. She may rise immediately following initial first aid; if not, she must be moved to a hospital pen for further assessment, nursing or veterinary care. Cows are difficult animals to move practically and humanely due to their size and all the existing techniques have drawbacks.The Cow Recovery project is an innovative Farmer/Vet collaboration which aims to improve outcomes for downer cows by providing a safer alternative to current methods of moving them, in conjunction with veterinary training.The Cow Recovery bucket, which can be attached to machinery available on most UK dairy farms, has key adaptations which make it uniquely suitable for moving downer cows and is painted appropriately to enhance public understanding and ensure a singular purpose. It enables two stock people to move a recumbent cow in a stress-free manner to a suitable location, without risk of injury to themselves or the animal.A twelve month study run on ten leading dairy farms will gain feedback on their experiences of using the bucket compared with previous techniques and follow the outcomes for the cows moved; including adverse events, short-term and long-term survival as well as experiences of the farm workers themselves.The learnings gained from this study will be shared through the veterinary training materials to create a standardised blueprint for safely and humanely handling the downer cow.Improved handling of recumbent cows has the potential to reduce mortality; improve welfare, productivity, efficiency, reputation and hence the sustainability and resilience of the UK dairy industry.