Table 2.

Mean (± SE) step activity and gait for cows housed in a tiestall (TSL) or loose pen (LP)

Variable	Treatment		Difference of LSM	ddf1	F-value	P-value
	LP	TSL
Step activity2 (no. of steps/d)	818.24 ± 75.461	748.45 ± 75.589	69.79 ± 113.320	6.03	0.38	0.56
Gait3
Swinging out	−0.12 ± 0.143	0.14 ± 0.159	−0.26 ± 0.218	6	1.39	0.28
Back arch	−0.02 ± 0.081	−0.02 ± 0.090	0.00 ± 0.123	6	0.00	1.00
Tracking up	0.00 ± 0.122	−0.10 ± 0.136	0.10 ± 0.186	6	0.29	0.61
Joint flexion	−0.43 ± 0.147	0.23 ± 0.163	−0.66 ± 0.224	6	8.65	0.03
Asymmetric step	−0.15 ± 0.204	0.28 ± 0.227	−0.43 ± 0.312	6	1.89	0.22
Reluctance to bear weight	0.15 ± 0.140	0.28 ± 0.155	−0.13 ± 0.214	6	0.36	0.57
Overall gait	−0.26 ± 0.242	0.31 ± 0.269	−0.57 ± 0.369	6	2.40	0.17

¹Denominator degrees of freedom.

²Presented as the average number of steps/d across the dry period.

³Presented as change in gait score between the early (first week of dry-off) and late (last week before calving) terms.