5 succes factors of straw-lime-water bedding. What experiences do you have with this? Please share your own succes factors with us!
1. Carefully build up the mattress in layers, don’t fill the stalls in one go
2. Fill up the stalls 1x week, so the fluctuation in level is relatively low
3. Keep the level of the bedding level or higher than the rear curb
4. Keep the top layer dry (1 cm) in the area where the udder lies
5. Keep the bedding soft enough
Do you want less mastitis and less lameness? Go for deep beds!
We included some photo's from Switserland.
Another succes factor on the second photo is the flexible neck rail!
PS: Sand is probably a bit more robust, as the top layer dries faster and more easily. The other -big- advantage of sand is that it provides grip on the concrete of walking alleys.
Comments (13)
jim boet
we use here straw water and lime bedding, and actually we see the same overhere that the lime (chalk) creates grip at the concrete floor. the biggest advantage is that we almost dont have any thick hock and no lameness. mastites is low although we sometimes put some extra lime in the back of box where the udder is laying it keeps it more dry and antibacterial.
mohamed
rice straw with lime is aperfect bedding
Joep Driessen
Thanks for sharing! Great to hear you have such good experiences!
Ellen Schmitt
Dear Jim,
Thanks for you comment on the strawbeds. Would you mind sharing your "recipe" and the way you manage the beds? That would be of great help for on of our farmers.
Thanks and have a nice day ! Ellen
jim boet
yes of course, this is no secret. we use 1-2-4
1 part straw (clean yellow straw), 2 parts of water, and 4 parts of chalk.
we make this once in 3- 4 weeks. if you just start to fill the box on the beton for first time use more water because it the chalk sticks better on the concreet. when you have your basic bedding you can use the recepi above. next week we will fill the cubicles again if needed i can send some pictures.
succes!! Jim.
Ellen
Hi Jim, this of great help : Pictures would be great ! How much straw per cubicle do you need?
With my clients we are building the cubicules and , so Yes, we will follow your advice to use a bit more water for the first filling.
Thanks for your help, Ellen
Dirk Vangarderen
Just a question on maintenance. When you bed weekly do you just use dry straw or shavings than? Or do you keep the stalls full with the straw lime water mix
Joep
Good question! Most farms make the same mix weekly to fill beds! Less straw losses when mixed with line and water.
Katri
Hello,
We are testing this straw-lime-water mix in our deep beds. These are not common here in Finland. Could you please give me some advice, how to do this? What kind of lime should be used in this mix? What size are the particles in lime, so the litter would stay better inside the cubicles? Should the mix start to compose or make some kind of chemical reaction to work well? Should the litter be dry or dampish in the surface? We have had a plenty of mastitis now, in this deep bedding system. The straw we are using is excellent quality. Where I could find more information, how to do this right? Our cows love deep beds, I would not want to change these to normal mattresses.
If anyone knows the answer, I would be very greatful,
Katri
Joep Driessen
Sorry for the late response! In the Netherlands an estimated 3000 farms use this limestone mix and 3000 use dried /separated manure. Most farms have less than 10% mastitis per year!
We use calcium carbonate , powdery.
4 kg lime 1 chopped straw (4 cm - when slatted floor) and 1 liter water to glue it
Weekly filling prevents digging out by cows: they get used to it
Raking flat level before filling.
It is a bit damp on day one, so keep fans on slowly for the first 2 days after filling to dry the top layer.
Most farms never clean it ( some sand farms clean the last meter out when cell count goes up..)
Just add a new top layer weekly..
If it’s wet: only straw - but straw is quickly lost because it’s loose – so higher costs.
Do you have fans/ other ventilation? That’s important in the winter as well - fresh air inlet...
Some other important questions:
- What is cellcount - over all the months?
- How clean is the floor? - hoofs?
- For the general resistance of the cows- is the fiber : concentrate ratio 50/50 or 60/40??
- Is mastitis more common with your fresh cows?
- Other fresh cow issues?
- What recipee did you use?
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Also keep in mind:
- Klebsiella can also travel via drinking water- how are drinkers cleaned?
- Uberis is often in wet straw yards.
- April is end of winter- build up bacterias- did it slow down in summer?
Good luck!
Greg
Can you substitute straw for fine shavings are dry sawdust. We just moved in to our new facility with deep bedded stalls. Cows love them, just looking at ways to use a bit less bedding, and were noticing at the very back of the stall in gets quite damp and smelly. We keep them cleaned down 6 to 8 times a day, and pull back fresh shavings, so no bacteria or somatic cell problems at this point. I just feel that the lime would be a great safety net to help reduce potential mastitis problems.
CowSignals®
Good question, I will pass it on to Joep - might take a while since he is travelling this week, but we're on it!
CowSignals®
Hi Greg, this is Joep's answer:
Probably you can..
However , sawdust is more risk with Klebsiela bacteries - causing severe mastitis. But if it's clean (white) sawdust - it will work.
Main thing: fans!! For fresh air and drying the top layer of the bed.
Good luck, and please send us a movie when all the cows are resting!
Best regards,
Joep
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