The vast majority of dairy cows, both dry and milking, will spend the winter months housed on cubicles in sheds.
Keeping cows clean when housed is important in order to prevent them from picking up mastitis during the housed period.
If cubicles are excessively dirty, it could be a sign that the brisket board or pipe is incorrectly positioned.
If it is positioned too far forward it can result in cows dunging onto the cubicles rather than the passageway.
However, having it positioned too far forward will result in the cows not being able to lie on the cubicles properly.
This may mean that some of their body is lying in the passageway rather than completely on the cubicle.
Cubicles
Cows lie down for a significant amount of time each day – between 10 to 12 hours spaced out throughout the day to be exact.
Because of this, when they are housed, they require a comfortable cubicle bed with a low bacterial load.
This is generally achieved by scraping and liming cubicles on a daily basis.
No matter how well positioned your brisket board or pipe is, a certain amount of dung will be present on the cubicle. But by having it correctly positioned, you can greatly reduce the amount.
Brisket board
A brisket board or pipe is used to correctly position the cow in the cubicle, which prevents her from lying too far forward.
This means that if the cow dungs after standing up, the dung will not end up on the cubicle, but on the passageway.
The board should be placed on the bottom of the bed and the recommended distance from the rear curb of the cubicle is 1.75m (+/- 0.05m depending on cow type).
The position of the brisket board will vary depending on cow type, with Holstein cows requiring more room compared to a crossbred cow.