Bedding for Animals

Organic bedding materials keeping e.g. cows comfortable are getting more difficult to obtain and add significantly to daily operational costs. As a result, there has been recent interest in using separated manure solids for bedding.

Anaerobic digesters are known for their contribution to renewable energy and are part of the solution to manure handling, nutrient management and odor control. However, there is another application that warrants acknowledgement and should be looked at in more detail i.e. using digested separated solids as bedding for dairy cows.

With bedding adding significantly to daily operational costs, one should look into alternative ways as to how to keep cows comfortable and clean. There are certain requirements to consider before using separated solids for bedding. The list of eypectations for a substrate serving as bedding could read like this:

- Low initial bacteria counts especially for environmentally induced mastitis.

- Keeping bacterial growth low

- A pH preferably above 9

- Soft and comfortable

- Low cost

- Easy to dispose of after use

Many of bedding types being used, such as sand, straw, saw dust and wood shavings, or remains from pulp and paper industry will more of less meet the above mentioned expectations.

However, when it comes to that, separated digester solids are not that far out.