Sand is the ideal dairy bedding source, but it is not always feasible for every farm. Recycled manure solids can be a viable alternative for a mix of practical, economic and operational reasons.

While most of us focus on how to move manure, store it and land-apply it, there's a growing interest in what else manure can do for the dairy. One of the more intriguing ideas? Turning it into bedding.

What was once "grunt work" is now a critical piece of the puzzle, handled by a team that knows its impact.

Locomotion and hock scores, along with resting time, are indicators of the quality of the lying surface and bedding choice. With many bedding options available, this article provides recommendations for how to optimize each of them to improve cow comfort.

Dried manure solids are one of the most common bedding materials used on dairies today. Farms choose to use them because they also have several distinct advantages over other bedding types. However, no management decision comes without trade-offs, and farms using dried manure solids bedding must take steps to minimize their potential disadvantages.

There are many things to consider when you start evaluating what kind of beds and bedding you will use in your stalls, and everyone has a different opinion about what’s the best option.

How do you choose the best bedding for your cows? Obvious considerations include bedding cost and availability, but there are a few less obvious considerations that will help you make the best decision for your farm. Take a look at them and discover which bedding fits your farm’s cow comfort goals.

Controlling pathogen outgrowth in recycled manure bedding is possible. When a bacillus-based bedding additive was tested on-farm, a significant reduction in bulk tank SCC and mastitis cases was noticed.

Progressive Dairy hosted these technologies along with PDPW on the Nexus Innovation stage – a live-format presentation that is a cross between a TED Talk and a Shark Tank pitch.

In this episode, we will introduce you to, and celebrate, the 2023 Nexus Innovation Award winners.

• Nedap for its SmartFlow Milk Meter
• Glori Enterprises for The Fodd
• Arm & Hammer Animal Nutrition for its Certillus product for dairy bedding
• SmaXtec for its TruDrinking feature 
•  Zinpro for IsoFerm