Hospital Pen

Where should I house sick cows?

In any dairy herd, it is inevitable that there will be some sick cows and in most dairy herds, a separate “hospital pen” is needed where the cow can be hospitalized for treatment and recovery, ensuring that milk with antibiotic residues is diverted from the bulk tank.

In a recent survey of Wisconsin dairy herds, 2.5% of the herd, on average, was housed at any one point in time in the hospital pen. The composition of the pen averaged 45% fresh cows, 20% mastitis cows and 11% lame cows, reflecting the habit of housing fresh and sick cows together in a single pen to facilitate milk withdrawal.

We recommend sizing the hospital pen to 1.5 to 2% of the herd size based on these survey findings to accommodate sick cows only.

The pen should meet the other requirements of a transition cow pen already discussed with a 2-row design, 30-inch (76 cm) headlocks and deep loose bedding, and:

1. Have a separate waterer used only by the sick cow group to reduce the risk of spreading fecal-oral pathogens. The waterer should be cleaned out daily.
2. Be located on the end of the alley manure removal system to avoid moving sick cow manure through healthy cow pens
3. Be adjacent to a storage area for easy access to medicines, and a handling chute for the easy administration of treatment

A second group of sick cows are also found on many farms – the lame cows. It is becoming increasingly clear that herds need a separate management plan for lame cows. We favor the creation of a lame cow pen, in addition to the traditional hospital pen.

The lame cow pen should be a bedded pack where treated cows can be housed in a low stress environment in which they can recover – milked twice a day and no more. Ideally, this pen should be located immediately adjacent to the milking center holding area to minimize the distance walked at milking time, and sized to match the expected population of lame cows in the herd. Note: this is not a pen where lame cows go before they leave the herd because they are unable to move. The concept is one of recovery and success rather than failure.