Cow Recovery: The Sustainable Solution for Improving Downer Cow Outcomes

偶尔会有因生病或受伤而无法独立起床的奶牛，这是所有奶牛场的生活事实。在初步急救后，她可能会立即起床;如果没有，她必须被转移到医院围栏进行进一步评估，护理或兽医护理。奶牛是一种很难实际和人道地移动的动物，因为它们的尺寸和所有现有的技术都有缺点。奶牛恢复项目是一个创新的农民/兽医合作项目，旨在通过提供一种更安全的替代方法来改善奶牛的结果，以取代目前的移动方法，并结合兽医培训。奶牛恢复桶，可以连接到大多数英国奶牛场的机械上，具有关键的适应性，使其独特地适合于移动奶牛，并适当地涂上油漆，以提高公众的理解，并确保一个单一的目的。它能让两个饲养员以无压力的方式将一头卧着的奶牛移动到合适的位置，而不会对他们自己或动物造成伤害。在10个领先的奶牛场进行的为期12个月的研究将获得他们使用水桶的经验反馈，并与以前的技术进行比较，并跟踪奶牛移动的结果。包括不良事件，短期和长期-长期生存以及农场工人自己的经验。从这项研究中获得的经验将通过兽医培训材料分享，以创建安全和人道的标准化蓝图对卧位奶牛的改进处理有可能降低死亡率;提高福利、生产率、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.