Impacts of drainage beds covered with sand and wood shavings on the comfort behaviour of dairy buffalo in a temperate climate

Background Comfortable beds play an important role in increasing the ruminant and milk production efficiency of dairy buffalo. In loose housing systems, cow lying comfort depends on both the bedding materials and bed base. Results Buffaloes spent more lying time on sand beds at depth of 15 and 20 cm (S-15 and S-20) than on beds of 10 cm (S-10a) beds or in the feed alley in Exp1 (P P P Conclusion A depth of sand or wood shavings at 15 cm can meet the lying comfort requirements of dairy buffaloes when bedding materials are used above drainage beds.