Choosing the right bedding is essential for cow comfort, herd health and overall dairy performance. Sand is a popular choice thanks to its comfort, cleanliness and long-term affordability – especially when paired with an effective recovery and recycling program.

Le confort des vaches et la santé du troupeau sont des facteurs essentiels pour améliorer la qualité et la production du lait. La litière joue un rôle essentiel dans ces deux domaines, et c’est pourquoi de nombreuses fermes laitières utilisent depuis longtemps du sable comme litière. Toutefois, des questions se posent parfois quant à la meilleure litière : sable frais ou sable recyclé ?

Whether or not a dairy is using sand bedding, nuisance sand can infiltrate manure systems through feed, equipment and environmental exposure, creating hidden operational headaches. While removing 100% of sand from manure is not realistic, proactive manure management strategies can significantly reduce its impact, helping to preserve both the longevity of your equipment, your manure system’s performance and the quality of your bedding.

Cow comfort and herd health are essential factors to achieve higher milk quality and production. Bedding plays a critical role in both, which is why many dairy farms have long relied on sand as their go-to bedding. However, questions sometimes arise as to which bedding is better – fresh or recycled sand?

While investing in an anaerobic digester can have many advantages, dairy farmers have much to consider as they embark on these projects. Use the following tips to help ensure your anaerobic digester journey is successful.

The benefits of sand bedding for dairy cows are many. However, sand is not always the easiest material to incorporate into manure management systems.

Whether your objective is sustainability, a new revenue source or odor control, interest in and development of dairy anaerobic digester projects has swelled over the past few years. The upward trend is only expected to increase as dairies seek manure solutions to meet a changing marketplace.

Sand is the gold standard for dairy cow bedding, but all that glitters is not gold.

Here are a few examples of how a manure-related limitation was flipped from a hindrance into a long-term solution with bottom-line benefits.

Manure management is inescapable when you are a dairy farmer. And dealing with the more than 20 gallons of manure and urine each cow generates every day requires a significant investment by farms of all sizes.