Cow Recovery: The Sustainable Solution for Improving Downer Cow Outcomes

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.