Cow Comfort: New Sand Bedding for Dairy Cows (43)

Cow Comfort - In this week's video, we are replacing the bedding for our dry cows from separated manure solids to sand. We are looking to increase cow comfort and improve udder health by making this change.
If you have any questions about this week's video, leave them in the comments, and I will post a Q&A video on Sunday if needed. As always, thanks for watching!
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[@patrickaherne3598]

It's so funny watching the cows watching you work.

[@timjorden8329]

What a lot of work to improve comfort for your cows. I hope it pays off for you.

[@BRPFan]

Awesome video Piet! Be interesting to see how those mats will hold up! To bad those cow stall dividers didn’t fold up and away some how, be a lot less manual labor that for sure!

[@erwinraaben55]

12:50, Yes we are watching, snel de pet weer op Corné :P

[@davidkimmel4216]

Very interesting. Thank You for sharing the videos with us 👍👍👍

[@clintpaumen1690]

Great video!

[@johnhoog8874]

Interesting video Piet. Keep us posted on stall performance.

[@charlesgraves9757]

Great video it was very interesting watching the work you do. thanks

[@pietvanbedaf-nddairyfarmer9047]

Thank you!

[@jamesbarry4324]

Lots of work to change over to the sand bedding. My guess is the girls are going to like the sand.

[@dhenschel4]

Lots of work if you plan to replace 3000 stalls. Did you consider removing the dividers and scraping the stalls with something like a box scraper or plow? Seems like a lot of manual labor in shoveling out the stalls given the modern equipment we have today, but I just don't know all the possibilities. Good luck!

[@pietvanbedaf-nddairyfarmer9047]

We're not planning to do more than this pen, our milking cows are on sand bedded stalls already. It would've been alot of work either way, removing the dividers is hard work also. We wanted to be able to get the cows back in the blocked off area as soon as possible.

[@DCFelix67]

Thanks for another great video, Piet. Maybe I missed something, but was the sand put on top of the mats, or are you experimenting with sand and mats separately? I have seen farms using both--maybe the mats only in milder climates like Ireland? Also, I know you have to be a jack of all trades, but do you have a specific role like as foreman on the family farm? Just curious

[@pietvanbedaf-nddairyfarmer9047]

The sand was put on top of the matts, the idea is the cows kick out less sand with the matts underneath saving on bedding and reducing the amount of sand in the manure. I want to see if this is the case. I prefer to use sand as bedding for the cows, but it can be challenging to handle sand in manure. I don't really have a defined role, basically keeping everything running as it should and managing tasks for our guys that are doing odd jobs around the farm.

[@Justangs]

How you like the sand mats after using them for some time vs the sand stalls without the mats ? And what brand are you using just curious? Thanks

[@pietvanbedaf-nddairyfarmer9047]

They are agri comfort sand saver mats. The stalls with the mats are staying fuller longer. My plan is to install mats in the whole pen at some point.

[@sportsballs]

Piet, what issues do you foresee with the sand in your manure? I’ve seen other farmers having to deal with it settling out and then having to scrape out pits and lagoons. Thanks for the vidjas 👍

[@pietvanbedaf-nddairyfarmer9047]

Because we're not setup to handle sand in the manure in this barn like we are in our milking barns I think the collection pit would fill up with sand and we could plug the line that we pump the manure through.

[@sportsballs]

@@pietvanbedaf-nddairyfarmer9047 Piet, thanks for answering my question here and in your following video.

[@Tiagbenasen]

What is the name of those fans you have up top?

[@pietvanbedaf-nddairyfarmer9047]

The fans above the freestalls are norbco fans.

[@lennartvanhouwelingen3430]

Do you see any changes in scc?

[@pietvanbedaf-nddairyfarmer9047]

Not yet, this was a dry cow pen so it will take some time before we can judge if the change was an improvement.

[@phillippeterman1051]

You could tell right away that the cows liked the sand…..

[@martindavis9930]

Sand over manure... hmmm...

[@pietvanbedaf-nddairyfarmer9047]

Sand can be a pain to deal with, but I think it's tough to beat in terms of cow comfort.