What’s lurking in your sand-bedded stalls? [PROGRESSIVE DAIRY article]
/For all of the daily and weekly maintenance dairy farmers do to keep sand-bedded stalls clean, there may still be “lost items” (liked leaked milk, urine and liquid manure) lurking beneath the surface that present dangers to your cows.
The most difficult thing we see is that sand bedding becomes a project in and of itself. A well-managed sand stall requires intense levels of stall care. You cannot miss a day, regardless of how the day to day demands of the farm change during busy seasons, staffing changes, sand supply changes, budget shortfalls and weather fluctuations.
In order to ensure there aren’t dangers lurking beneath the surface, you have to fully commit to managing sand, no matter what the other factors are, to keep your cows safe and comfortable.
To have the “right” sand. The Dairyland Initiative suggests targets for ideal sand would be:
Dry matter greater than 95 percent, organic matter content less than 4 percent
Not too coarse and not too fine sand granular size (mason or concrete)
Have staff and time allotted to do the daily and weekly maintenance required:
Level the top 3 to 4 inches and remove manure-laden sand during each milking.
Add sand twice a week with at least 50 pounds (23 kilograms) of sand used per stall per day.
Be mindful this may add additional hours to a current employee’s job or require additional staff.
Have the equipment in working order necessary to do the maintenance required:
In smaller herds, leveling and aerating the beds can be done with hand tools, while others will choose a groomer with teeth no longer than the recommended 4 inches.
This will require at least one skid steer.
The additional equipment will need ongoing fuel and maintenance to function properly.
And that’s not all. Watch out for the ‘compaction zone’
Regardless of the type of sand used, producers should be aware of the “compaction zone.” Fine sand packs more quickly. According to The Dairyland Initiative, “The compaction zone [is] below the surface of the top layer of sand [and] should be monitored to see if it is becoming as hard as concrete. If this gets to within 1 to 2 inches of the point of the rear curb, it is time to remove the rear third of the bed and replace it with fresh uncontaminated sand.”
With a compaction zone as hard as concrete, your sand stalls could be stealing quarters from your pocket due to decreased cow comfort.
Environmental contamination
Sand itself is said to be “inorganic,” as it does not support bacterial growth. However, organic material and liquid bonds to the surface of each particle of sand as it is dug up from the ground, used in the barn and transferred through a sand-manure separation system.
Also, the cow itself has bacteria on its skin. Klebsiella spp., coliforms, E. coli, Streptococcus dysgalactiae, Enterococcus spp. and other bacteria live in the gut, get on the cow’s body and are transferred to the sand. Cows also urinate, defecate and leak milk, which supports bacterial growth.
The Dairyland Initiative recommends bacterial counts of the following:
Fresh bedding total count: less than 5,000 colony-forming units per milliliter, which is a measure of viable bacterial or fungal cells present
Used bedding total count: less than 1 to 2 million colony-forming units per milliliter (mostly streptococci)
Coliform count in used bedding: less than 100,000 colony-forming units per milliliter
Spring cleaning
Whether we like it or not, spring cleaning should be done twice a year. That means you should remove all of the sand in (at least) the back third of your stalls twice a year.
Put it on the calendar. Don’t ignore the reminders. Tie employee vacation approvals or bonus checks to getting the job done. Your cows are counting on you.
If you find your coliform count in the bedding is 100,000 colony-forming units per milliliter or greater, you need to take measures to get out the contaminated sand and get fresh sand in.
If you use fine sand, check more regularly for compaction. You’re not investing in sand bedding to have the equivalent of concrete under your cows.
Where can you fine-tune your operation? When is the last time you dug out the back third of your stalls and replaced with new sand? What is lurking beneath your cows’ udders?
Each farm is its own complex, interconnected system. Everything needs to fit together, there are multiple ways to arrange the farm system, and by stepping back and looking at multiple systems in tandem, the entire farm may see improvements with a few adjustments. Sand bedding has many demands every week, every month and every season.
If sand bedding isn’t the best choice for your farm, DCC Waterbeds provide a comfortable option for your cows while decreasing the demands on labor and equipment for your farm. Jason Esser (Wisconsin) explains why he thinks sand bedding will be a problem in the long run.
To read more, visit the article link at Progressive Dairy.
Is your top bedding doing more harm than good?
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DCC Waterbeds require a small amount of top bedding to keep the beds dry and your dairy cows comfortable.
You spend countless hours of labor and sourcing to find the best top bedding to keep your dairy cows clean and comfortable. All top bedding materials used are not created equally. And some can actually do more harm than good.
Top bedding on a mattress or waterbed is used to reduce the bacteria and moisture that can wreak havoc on vulnerable udders and to provide comfort for the resting cow. Before sprinkling that next scoop of bedding in a stall, consider whether it is helping or hurting the cow.
Grab a handful of bedding and ask yourself these three questions:
Do any sharp objects poke your hand?
Is the top bedding wet?
How much top bedding is on the bed?
1. Do any sharp objects poke your hand?
When you squeeze a handful of bedding, does it hurt your hand? If it’s poking you, it is also poking the cow. This can cause problems with the udder, teats and legs. Being poked by the top bedding might irritate her pressure points or be a nuisance for the cow. Eliminating a top bedding stress for the cow will pay you dividends.
Depending on the material, there may be a simple solution. Perhaps straw can be chopped finer, or the sawdust provider can provide a different grade with fewer rough particles or a different wood source.
If you’re going to great lengths to eliminate stress for the cow in other areas of the farm, make sure you’re checking what impact the top bedding might have for the cow.
2. Is the top bedding wet?
Some materials like paper mill byproduct or dried manure solids are moist and may put your cow at risk of bacterial exposure. You should ask your paper mill supplier if you are able to get a drier product. If you are using dried manure solids, check with your separator supplier to see if your machine is performing correctly or if you can adjust the settings to get drier manure.
If the bedding is excessively wet or soiled after it’s in the stalls, examine stall setup and protocol. What is the maintenance procedure to keep the stalls clean and dry?
It’s also possible the problem is in the stall design. Check cow positioning within the stall. Is the neckrail positioned correctly? Are you using a brisket locator or relying on a mound of bedding at the front of the stall? Is there something out of line with manure management, such as a broken scraper or skid steer? Are stalls being maintained to your standards? Don’t spend time, money and energy improving top bedding if there are other reasons stalls are not clean and dry.
3. How much top bedding is on the bed?
Besides the hardness of the surface, consider why you are using that amount of top bedding. Are large and small cows together in the same pens? If so, then small cows will have more space to move in the stalls, and that means that they’re likely to make the stalls messier. In this case, more top bedding may be needed to dry up the added moisture in the stalls. Do you have a reliable and consistent supply of top bedding? If so, you may choose to use more because supply is not a concern. Are mattress covers ripped or has the foam layer started to pack? If mats are no longer providing adequate cow comfort, add more top bedding to provide additional comfort.
If you’re using top bedding simply for drying the stall surface, look at the amount of bedding, frequency and type of bedding to see if there’s any place to make adjustments without impacting cow comfort.
Dan Denman, The Robotic Dairyman, explains why he uses sawdust as top bedding on his DCC Waterbeds in this short video.
Brisket Locator and Neck Rail Positioning for Cow Comfort
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Tender Loving Care Consulting with Tom Lorenzen will lead us through common questions about brisket locator and neck rail positioning for cow comfort.
Whether you're remodeling, building a barn or just want to do a quick check of your current set up, you can take a look at your neck rail and brisket locator positioning. Perhaps a few adjustments could make for an even more comfortable space for the cow and avoid any unnecessary perching.
For a copy of the free stall design recommendation seen on the video, email us at support@advancedcomforttechnology.com or visit: https://www.dccwaterbeds.com/techinfo.
Cow Comfort Leads to Milk Production and Cow Longevity
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Tender Loving Care Consulting with Tom Lorenzen will lead us through common questions about how stall comfort for your dairy cows leads to milk production and cow longevity.
"Cows position themselves in every valuable inch of the stall," Lorenzen says.