Dairy housing cubicles: Design and features

A guide to cubicle design, features and bedding.

• Move head rail to position cows correctly in the cubicles
• Beds should have a 2–3% fall to aid drainage
• Deep and comfortable bedding is key to comfort
• Kerb height helps retain bedding and limit slurry contamination
• Cows with skin lesions or perching on beds may indicate cubicle issues

Partitions make sure cows are correctly positioned in cubicles without impacting their comfort and protect them from neighbouring cows when rising or lying.

There are numerous types of partitions available. Suspended partitions (e.g. Cantilever) are popular as they are unrestrictive, but there are numerous variations and types available.

There is little evidence comparing the performance of partition types.

Lower rails on a partition (often installed 400 mm above the bed surface) could lead to cows becoming trapped.

Partitions with a rear support leg can cause damage to the cow’s hock and pelvis.

The brisket board helps to position the cow correctly when she is lying down. If she lies too far forward it can lead to soiling on the cubicle bed and difficulty rising.

The brisket board should not be more than 10 cm in height to allow the cow to swing her leg forward before rising.

It should be angled towards the front of the cubicle to allow for the natural shape of the cow’s neck.

The distance from the rear edge of the brisket board to the rear kerb depends on cow size. For a 545 kg cow the distance should be 1.68 m. For a 727 kg cow the distance should be 1.78 m.

The head rail positions the cow as she enters the cubicle. It needs to be at the correct height and distance into the cubicle.

If the head rail is too low it can injure the cow when she reclines and rises.

For cows weighing approximately 545 kg, the height of the head rail should be 1.17 m from the bed surface. For 727 kg cows, it should be 1.27 m.

As with head rail height, as cows become larger the distance from the head rail to the rear kerb may also need to increase.

Too far from the kerb makes the cubicle space too long, so when a cow is stood with four feet on the cubicle, she can soil the back of the bed.

If it is too close to the kerb, it will lead to cows perching (two feet on the cubicle and two feet in the passage).

Cows prefer to lie facing uphill. Cubicle beds should be installed with a slight fall from the front to the back.

Giving the cubicle bases an impermeable finish, such as rubber mats, will help drain the bed of any milk or urine that would otherwise contaminate it.

A slope of 2–3% is satisfactory. Steeper slopes make bedding harder to retain.

The height of the kerb stone should be 15–20 cm, depending on the method of slurry removal.

Scraped passages may need higher kerbs to prevent slurry being lifted into beds during scraping.

High kerbs may lead to increased perching, which impacts on foot health. However, if dimensions are correct and cows can stand comfortably in the cubicle, these effects are minimised.

Slatted passages allow lower kerbs. If kerb height is lower than 15 cm cows may lie partly in and partly out of the cubicle.

When fitting mats or mattresses:

• Include their height in your calculations
• The kerb stone should not protrude above the mattress, causing discomfort to the cow
• Kerbs still need to be high enough to prevent mattress movement or slippage

Alongside correct cubicle dimensions, a comfortable base and bedding will encourage cows to spend time lying down.

An ideal cubicle surface should:

• Be soft and insulating
• Provide grip
• Minimise abrasions
• Be easy to clean and maintain
• Be cost-effective to install

Bare concrete is not an acceptable lying surface.

Common bedding materials include:

• Sand
• Paper
• Straw
• Sawdust
• Shavings

Cubicle bedding is often chosen based on the farm’s existing slurry handling system and available machinery and labour.

Mats, mattresses or waterbeds can reduce the amount of bedding needed. Mattresses in GB cost around £100/cow and last 6–10 years.

A small amount of bedding is still required to keep the beds dry, cows clean and prevent hock and knee abrasions.

It would be typical to use around 1 kg of kiln-dried sawdust each day on a mattress. The quantity of bedding material is an important factor to cubicle comfort.

Research shows:

• Cows spent an extra hour and a half lying on heavily bedded mattresses heavily bedded with 7.5 kg sawdust compared to mattresses with no bedding
• Mattresses with no bedding led to increased perching time by 20 minutes
• More hock lesions occur on rubber mats compared to mattresses. However, more hock lesions were observed on mattresses compared to deep bedded sand

While the initial investment with sand-based cubicles is low, they require ongoing labour associated with filling and maintaining the beds and can cause problems for waste handling systems.

Sand level is important for lying time. Beds should be filled to kerb height. When the depth of sand drops, occupancy and lying times also decline.

If piles of sand build up at the front or back or the cubicle, they can prevent lying, rising and resting behaviours so should be raked and flattened out daily.

If sand level drops below the kerb, cows spend less time lying in the cubicles. Research found that when sand beds dropped below the 13cm kerb, lying times declined by 2.33 hours/day.

Lying time decreased by 11 minutes for every 1 cm decrease in sand level below the kerb.

Despite the extra work, deep sand-bedded cubicles decrease lameness prevalence by half in comparison to rubber mats and mattresses with little or no bedding.

Sand also decreases hock lesions and their severity when compared with mattresses. While sand has a lower bacteria count compared to sawdust or straw, it has not been shown to affect somatic cell count.  

When occupancy was observed, deep bedded sand and rubber-filled mattresses consistently showed the highest occupancy while concrete and rubber mats consistently showed the lowest occupancy.

Cubicle base                         % cubicles occupied

Rubber filled mattress          89

Deep bedded sand               79

Mat                                          65

Regardless of the type of cubicle base or bedding used, cubicles should be routinely bedded and raked out.

It is important to observe your cows’ legs, particularly the hocks and knees for signs of hair loss, abrasions or swelling as this may indicate insufficient cubicle comfort.

Tools to assess comfort:

• Hair loss and lesions scorecard
• Cow Comfort Index (CCI), which compares the number of cows lying and standing in cubicles. At least 85% of cows in a shed that are in contact with the stalls should be lying down. Calculate your CCI:
  • Count the number of cows lying in cubicles. Don’t include cows that are standing or perching
  • Divide this by the number of cows in the shed
  • Multiply this by 100 to give a percentage
  • For example, in a shed of 60 cows, if 54 are lying, then there is a 90% CCI

Overall, research hasn’t shown a clear financial benefit from investing in one cubicle base over another.

If more than 10% of beds are excessively soiled:

• Likely cause: Beds are too long allowing cows to stand or lie too far into the bed
• Impact: Dirty cows and increased mastitis risk
• Potential solutions: Move the brisket board or the head rail closer to the kerb stone

• Possible causes:
  • Uncomfortable bedding
  • The kerb stone may be too high, and they are unwilling to step up
  • The neck rail may be too low or too close to the kerb stone, making the cubicle too short
• Impact: Increased risk of lameness and rear foot lesions
• Potential solutions:
  • Test the bedding to make sure it’s comfortable and dry
  • Check cubicle dimensions match average cow size in the herd
  • Replace worn mattresses
  • Move head rail higher or away from kerb stone to increase bed length

• Possible causes:
  • Contact with partitions (especially rear support legs)
  • Being rubbed by head rail
  • Being rubbed by mattress when rising and lying down
• Impact: Decreased lying time, increased standing time and a potential increase in aggression with other more dominant cows
• Potential solutions:
  • Review partition design
  • A softer or better placement of the brisket board is required. Pipe shapes are available as an alternative to boards
  • If the top of the neck is rubbed, the head rail may need moving
  • Increase bedding coverage on mattress
  • Consider possible causes from other areas of the shed, such as the feed face