MAKING milk is all about ensuring cows spend enough time lying down.

This was the message from Dairyland Hoof Care Institute partner Karl Burgi, at last week's Australian Dairy Conference in Wollongong.

Dr Burgi told the crowd dairy cows needed to spend 12 to 14 hours a day resting or lying down to protect their hooves and ultimately prevent lameness.

"Get them to lie down and everything is solved," he said. "It is within their natural behaviour."

Promoting the idea that "cows should be cows", Dr Burgi said on a daily basis a cow should spend five to five and a half hours eating, 12-14 hours lying down, two to three hours resting, standing or walking, half an hour drinking and two and a half to three and a half hours milking.

He said standing in dairies on concrete was not natural behaviour and should be limited, but he acknowledged that changes in the industry, such as moving towards total-mix ration systems and bigger herds, presented hurdles for the time cows spent resting.

Heifers coming into the dairy shed for the first time should spend the least amount of time on concrete, as they had spent their lives on grass and were not used to the surface.

He said heifers' hooves should be trimmed about a month before calving.

Before calving, heifers should also be introduced to the concrete and for up to the first four weeks after calving to ensure they spent the least amount of time in the dairy.

Dr Burgi said research showed lameness affected about 8 per cent of grazing herds in Australia and New Zealand annually.

Since a lame cow could cost dairy farmers up to $500, producers should treat the problem as they would mastitis - as soon as possible and seriously.

He said cows must be assessed daily for signs of lameness and have their hooves trimmed for both function and therapy.

He recommended using blocks to help cows recover from claw-horn lesions.

"If you are only looking for the bad ones (cows) you are missing 90 per cent of them," he said.

"Today's dairy cows are expected to walk 100,000km on (what is) a 50,000km tyre."

Dr Burgi said cows' hooves should ideally be 8.1cm long and that hooves grew 5mm a month.

Other tips included managing nutrition to ensure cows had a consistent diet, keeping cows cool to counteract their tendency to stand when they are hot, and treating and preventing infectious diseases with a foot-bath.