Can SAND Bedding Really INCREASE INCOME on Dairy Farms?

[@lancepearson4035]

Hi - new subscriber from New Zealand - interesting to see how you operate your farm - thanks for sharing

[@EddyKoster-t9l]

Hi Lance!! Thanks. Hope you enjoy the videos!

[@JocelyneDonaldson-b3t]

WOW! There’s sooo much to consider!!! Didn’t realize there was that much mathematics in farming. 😉

[@timjones1583]

Great presentation.

[@Marilou-g5t]

We used sand bedding for 18 years with 750 milking herd in north central PA. We reclaimed up to 90% of the sand. We had a flush alley, a gravity flow beach to let sand settle out, 3 stages of lagoon for the solids to settle out prior to the liquid being applied to crop fields. We used cloth towels. The sand "ate" washers and dryers. We had diamond grooves put into concrete alleyways to boost footing. We sometimes groomed the sand with a skidsteer attachment that had jumbo tines that raked across the back approximately 18 inces of each stall. The sand shooter truck was faster to load sand into stalls, but a beast to maintain, so skidsteer was used to put in more sand much of the time.

[@Justangs]

Great video!!! I noticed when you added up the numbers it’s $7500. Not 6500 ;) 1:35 Love the videos :)

[@EddyKoster-t9l]

Dang! The first number was $2500. My mistake lol So still $6500

[@gregschlafer7557]

Thanks for another very informative video! Really enjoyed it!!!

[@dhansonranch]

Thanks for the explanation. I had heard about the benefits and seen some of the negative but had not figured it would save that kind of money - whether the .27 changes uses 7500 instead of 6500. The fact is that it saves money in the long haul and it works for you. Great video.

[@EddyKoster-t9l]

Thanks. I made a mistake. The one number was 2500$ So that made the total correct.

[@DaveKoster-t2b]

I love your sand bedding guys! Great choice

[@Marilou-g5t]

On farm aseptic milk sampling, striking on bi- or tri-plates, incubating plates, and reading growth on media can allow for more successful antibiotic therapies. 24 to 48 hours for milder cases. 8 hours for toxic mastitis growth. Quality Milk lab in NY state was where I trained with 2 our farm's vets and 1 vet tech. Well groomed, clean sand should greatly minimize mastitis. Those who are not as exacting in bedding or grooming stalls will see more mastitis. Damper and or warmer environments can grow more bacteria...

[@goatgettervlog]

Excellent Video! My dad always used sand and refused to switch when the mattress salesmen came knocking in the 90's. When us kids started working on other farms that used mattresses, we about crapped our pants when we saw their SCC count. Mastitis was so common on those farms. You guys are at less than 1 head/year, and that is awesome! Those mattresses weren't any less work than sand and they were just disgusting. Us girls all worked for wonderful farmers that invested a lot of money into what they were told would improve cow comfort and it just seemed to be one disaster after another. I heard Eddie say in another video that you were new to free-stalls too. What did you guys use previous to building there? Bedding pack?

[@danypelletier3456]

In Quebec it’s illegal to have stalls on existent soil. We have to pour concrete sealed joint between stall and alley and put the sand over it. It’s less popular here farmer uses mats. Good sand with no organic in it is hard to find.

[@brandontrout2833]

My last 50 tons were absolutely horrible with rocks. Couldn't use it. I took some down to mark and cindy for the kids to play in lol. Eddie needs a sand shooter bucket!!!!

[@EddyKoster-t9l]

Oh man. Don’t want stones Brandon. Do you order screened sand and then they brought you the wrong stuff?

[@brandontrout2833]

@EddyKoster-t9l just starting having issues with quarry with there screener then had to go to another quarry and they were bringing beautiful white sand looked like a pile of snow. Then a year later I could tell something was up. Called and said where they were digging was getting rocky. So called another guy where he digs got a nice load last week. The one quarry wanted 40 dollars a ton for screen sand. I said no way I'm doing that. Anyway fixed problem as of now. Kind of a long story

[@EddyKoster-t9l]

@@brandontrout2833dang. Sounds like a bit of messing a round. Did mark tell you I’m coming to visit them next weekend. We hope to see you and your wife on the Saturday if that works.

[@brandontrout2833]

@EddyKoster-t9l the kids told me, so yes you are more then welcome to visit. Looking foward to it

[@MissouriRob]

Lots of things to consider when choosing to house your cows.... sand seems to work very effective for the initial costs.... along the way I've found hidden costs, but none to change my opinion on it being the cows choice of bedding.

[@-tobias-]

I like the concept of sand beeding and you did a nice overview of the pros and cons. I have a question, you mentioned you didn't need concrete for the stalls, is there no concrete under the sand beeding? Or did i misunderstood?

[@EddyKoster-t9l]

Thanks! That’s right. No concrete under the sand.

[@-tobias-]

I couldn't build it that way here in Germany. I would have to put concrete under the sand to prevent liquids from 'contarminate' the soil.

[@EddyKoster-t9l]

@@-tobias- right. Definitely a lot of countries that you maybe would need the concrete. But we still see enough positives that you could get the money back on using sand. I am sure there are some farms in Germany using sand.

[@-tobias-]

@@EddyKoster-t9l There are probably some farms that use sand here. I visited one in Poland years ago that used sand and it's in my mind since. It's great you share your experience. The most common beeding in new barns is straw mixed with lime. We have the manure pit under the barn so it would be tough to clean the sand out