Freestall And Bedding Management
Discussed At Recent Conference
(Continued from Page A3B) According to McFarland, the
freestall and bedding choices. freestall design should do four
“You have to make choices,” things be comfort, promote
said Stowell. “You need to cleanliness, promote good udder
assure cleanliness, optimal pro- health, and prevent injury,
vide cow comfort, and make Cows should spend 10 to 14
considerations for your manure hours a day lying down. And
system ” they should do that in about six
The panel identified eight feet bouts during the day
as the minimum amount of Cows are going to he down
space needed in a stall to allow V* ”?
r x t. . • easily.” said McFarland. Most
for cow movement, emphasizing V u ua a* u a
that a lunging area was needed P e «P ,e bed f ,n f ba f d °“
to allow the cow to lunge for- wbaever , is , m ° st P lentlful “ d
ward. The standard width of a whataver ,s ,east fTTT
freestall should be 48 inches for “JgJ* < S cr WCnt br ° ke bUymg
a mature Holstein cow. uing. , . . .„ ,
The panel emphasized that
the general requirements for
freestalls are clean, dry, and
comfortable. Cleanliness is pro
moted by using inorganic mate
rial such as sand and cleaning
the stalls regularly. Cow comfort
is promoted by using soft bed
ding at least four to eight inches
The brisket board should
allow the cow to stand comforta
bly, but discourage forward
movement and encourage the
animal to lie square. Animals
that don’t lie square are more
susceptible to dirty udders and
udder injuries.
iillflft
dairymen are the
cream of the cropl
thick.
During the session, Roden
burg went over a study of differ
ent types of bedding and their
impact on cow comfort. The
study showed that softer areas
promoted ease of movement,
which stimulated more up and
down movement and more fre
quent trips to the manager.
While the research showed
that the cows like lying down on
mattresses, the difference in the
time cows spent lying down in
sand-bedded stalls and the time
they spent lying in stalls with
mattresses was minimal. Sand
bedded cows also had less hock
injuries.
The panel agreed that sand
was the most ideal type of bed
ding. It does double duty, pro
viding a cushioning layer and a
clean, dry, and giving surface.
The negative aspect of sands
was its impact on manure sys
tems. Stalls that use sand should
have eight inches of sand in the
resting area, should accommo
date the brisket board, and
should include a 4 percent slope.
BUY,
SELL,
TRADE
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THROUGH
THE
CLASSIFIED
ADS
IN
Lancaster
Farming
For planning estimates, a
rarmer should allow for five
cubic yards per stall per year
and 40 pounds of sand per stall
per day.
Although the speakers did
feel sand was the most appropri
ate choice of bedding, they cau
tioned that it was not a cure all.
Proper design and mainte
nance were essential. The stalls
should be cleaned three times a
day. They also recommended
that sand should be washed,
graded, and allowed to dry
before it is used in the stalls.
According to Smith, the rea
sons a farmer should worry
about bedding material and its
impact on herd health is because
the bedding material has fre
quent contact with the teat end.
Inorganic material such as
sand encourages less environ
mental bacteria like coliform. In
research studies, organic bedded
cows always have more clinical
mastitis, which is often caused
by environmental pathogens.
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Unotter Farming, Saturday, February 28, 2000-A39
These bacteria need food,
moisture, and heat. The organic
bedding like sawdust or straw
provides the food, while mois
ture and heat are often readily
available, especially in the
summertime.
Smith gave these manage
ment recommendations for
farmers who want to use organic
bedding. It must be very dry,
should be replaced often, and
should include the additional of
lime or chemicals to inhibit bac
teria growth.
This is just some of the infor
mation that these speakers dis
cussed during the freestall and
bedding management session of
the Dairy Housing Conference.
The Conference was spon
sored by the Natural Resource
and Agriculture Engineering
Service (NRAES), a branch of
extension funded by fourteen
landgrant universities. NRAES
sponsored the conference based
on suggestions from dairy farm
ers and researches.
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