Top tips: Choosing the right bedding machinery

Straw remains the primary bedding material in loose housing in the UK, and is still very popular in cubicle applications, despite the many alternative materials which are now available, suggests Tom Teagle of Teagle Machinery.

Mr Teagle says: “The ideal bed offers moisture wicking, a layer of thermal insulation and the ability for liquids to pass through and run away. Straw should be as long as possible to create a lattice effect in the bed. Too much chopping will result in a bed of straw ‘porridge’, but slightly bruising the straw can provide beneficial absorbency.”

A major advantage of mechanised bale processors in saving straw over spreading by hand is that bales are broken apart and spread evenly across the bedding area, says Mr Teagle.

Quality

“This also provides a higher quality manure to spread in the field.”

Teagle customer surveys have found the reasons for use of machinery in the preparation/delivery of straw for bedding varies depending on the farm.

“In some cases the objective is to reduce straw usage, typically by about 25 per cent and in a few cases up to 50 per cent. Savings in straw usage is the benefit often popularised by manufacturers of straw bedding machinery. However, in just as many cases the benefit is to reduce the labour requirement,” he says.

“Most operators see a combination of both, with savings driven by frequency of bedding and quantity of bedding material applied.”

Choosing a machine designed for straw spreading rather than as a dual-purpose straw/silage chopper will give better results, says Jan Soukenka, UK sales manager for specialist manufacturer Lucas G.

He says: “The Lucas G Raptor and Square machines have discs rather than knives on the rotor, so straw comes out in the same condition it was in the swath. In loose housing you can produce a thick bed which gives better absorption, is healthier for the cows’ feet and leads to better quality milk.”

Mr Soukenka says maintenance of spreading machines is important.

“Check discs are not bent or worn as this will use more tractor power to spread straw. Ensure the counter knife is clean and free of debris. A build-up reduces the size of the opening which slows the spread of material and can lead to blockages.”

Another option for a dedicated straw spreading machine is the telehandler-mounted UBI Jet, which has a hydraulic loading arm and uses discs or hydraulically retractable tines to spread the straw, he says.

“This machine has a vertical rotor, which distributes the straw gently so there is less dust. This could be a good choice if you are focusing on spreading straw into buildings.”

Lucas G also reports impressive straw savings compared to using a bucket to distribute bedding, with a UBI Jet customer spreading across three by three metre pens using one bale to bed down rather than three bales previously.

Mechanical straw spreading offers savings in terms of straw economy as well as reduced labour requirement, compared with using a grab or manual distribution, the University of Liverpool Institute of Veterinary Science, Wood Park Farm has found.

Wood Park Farm, which has a 220-cow herd, evaluated a Spread-a-Bale telehandler-mounted distributor in its straw bedded dry cow and youngstock accommodation.

Compared to its previous operations using a grab to shake out the straw, the Spread-a-Bale proved to be more effective and efficient. At the same time, quality of bed remained the same, and the low level of mastitis cases was maintained.

John Cameron, farm manager at the farm, says; “I have used a number of straw bedding machines and always disliked the amount of dust produced during spreading and even less appreciated unblocking them on a regular basis.

“We have several straw yards with less than ideal designs and have a high standard of bedding, being a university farm, which means a significant amount of straw is used annually. The straw bill for 2018 was about £30,000, which is about twice the average spend for this size of farm based on Promar costings.

Fluffy

“Using Spread-a-Bale, we have halved our straw usage. It is easy to use and rarely blocks – its rotors and bed can be put in to reverse if it does – and it leaves a fluffy bed for animals to nest in.”

Wood Park Farm’s findings are consistent with feedback from other livestock farmers, says former dairy producer Michael Hughes, who invented and developed Spread-a-Bale, now manufactured at the company’s base in Cheshire.

“These farmers are commonly reporting 50 per cent straw saving over manual spreading with square bales and up to 35 per cent for round bales. They are also reporting time and labour savings of up to 75 per cent. One 600kg rectangular bale can be spread in 45 seconds,” he says.

“Spread-a-Bale’s spreading rotors accelerate a mass of straw to throw it the full width of the pen with minimal dust generation. Consequently, longer straw makes for a longer lasting bed. Furthermore, the system is truly self-loading from the stack, so just one fore-end loader is required.”

In cubicles, the ideal bed is one that will remain in place. Straw that is too long will get dragged back into the scraper aisle, explains Tom Teagle.

“Similar to loose housing, bedding must also be effective at wicking moisture, provide thermal insulation and, most critically, be comfortable to encourage lying down for optimum milk production.

“We find short chopped or, ideally, milled straw provides the best characteristics. The straw stem is completely broken apart for optimum absorbency and chop length is consistent. This is an important factor where pumped slurry systems are involved.

“The benefits most customers cite in using straw from Teagle bale processors is the easier handling of straw bedding over sand and the speed at which straw breaks down in the field compared to wood-based products,” he adds.

Richard Burman says the Kidd 300 bale shredder with 1.2-metre fan gives a flat carpet effect in cubicles, the power of the fan blowing straw right to the back of the cubicle.

He says: “The alternative is a self-propelled or pedestrian machine, but they are not really viable for dairy farms.”

Lucas G’s Jan Soukenka says while straw is used less often in cubicles in the UK, one solution to bedding them down is an overhead system, popular on the continent.

The most economical way to bed down is to produce a flat ‘carpet’ of straw, says Richard Burman, managing director of Kidd Farm Machinery.

He says: “You need to feed the straw out rather than chopping it and there are only a couple of machines on the market that can do this.

"Our 450 bale shredder has a 1.5-metre wide fan and by reducing the pto speed and ‘metering’ out the straw flat across a building, wastage is reduced.

"It works best in larger buildings and there is also less dust than when chopping. When spreading half-tonne round bales, you need half to one bale less compared with chopped straw.”

• Michael Hughes: “Long fibre straw is also important. The longer the straw haulm the more the cow’s weight is spread over a longer distance and less straw is used. One of our clients in Staffordshire, who has a contract baling business, now only uses straw from straw walker combines, saying he uses 50 per cent more with straw from a rotary combine, even when using his spread-a-Bale.”
• Jan Soukenka: “Check how straw is handled at harvest. If it is getting smashed up by the combine or the baler it will not spread as well and will be less economical to use. Avoid building the bed up too thickly, you will use more bedding but not gain more absorption.”
• Tom Teagle: “A policy of ‘little and often’ for bedding maintenance ensures livestock remain clean, thereby minimising cell counts in dairy herds and, importantly, to manage straw usage.”