Lime in cubicles

[jobean]

I have an issue with swollen hocks on my farm and with my investigating iv had two people who would claim to be experts in their fields say that lime can be abrasive and I should use something else.

They claim that when it gets wet it can form a paste, stick to the cows and then as they move about be very abrasive.

Iv attached a picture of what I think there talking about.

I would be interested to know if anyone else has experienced this on there farms?

Thanks, jo

 

[Blue.]

Strange 1st post.

Never had lime cause swollen hocks,hard beds would.

 

[jobean]

I definitely have an issue with hard beds in some cubicles. I still use wooden kennels and I know I need to invest in them but with 25ppl finding the funds is not easy.

It seemed nonsense to me but having seen the patches on the cows legs like in the picture and can see what they mean

 

[Dr. Alkathene]

How often do you Lime the cubicles, how many cubicles, how much lime do you put on? What lime are you using? Never known lime to cause swollen hocks. What cubicles do you have?

 

[jobean]

We lime our cubicles twice a day, works out to just over 50g/cubicle/day (200kg/month over 130 cubicles) using normal hydrated white lime. We have intershape mattresses in 80 of our cubicles and the wooden kennels have a hard core base with rubber mats on top which are past there sell by date.

 

[Princess Pooper]

using normal hydrated white lime.

Ouch. Hydrated lime is not specialist cubicle lime.

 

[jobean]

Ouch. Hydrated lime is not specialist cubicle lime.

My mistake, we use singleton birch bio lime ??‍

 

[Kingofgrass]

We use 3x1ton bags of lime and about 3pallets of nysandry mixed into 50ton of sawdust put on with a qbed twice a day (that’s last us 12months).the key to lime is little and often,far too many farmers put too much lime on there beds...(260cows 100 heifers)

 

[Fergieman]

What elese are you putting on the beds? wouldn't want the cows lying straight onto lime.

 

[madscientist]

My mistake, we use singleton birch bio lime ??‍

I was wondering but you corrected yourself. I blamed black spot on teats when I used hydrated lime. Switched over to limestone flour. Don't know what the modern cubicle lime is based on.

 

[jobean]

Im using chopped straw, 20-40mm length I'd say. I do a straw/muck swop with my neighbour so have loads of straw at a sensible price so not looking to change. I use about 650g/cubicle/day and chop straw 6 days a week, sundays off

 

[jobean]

I do suspect I'm using too much but boss man says it cheap so slaps it on. I'd rather just do the wet spots every time we brush the beds

 

[FED UP]

Have used Nadins cubicle lime for several years. No teat burns and hardly any mastitis. Used in straw bedded hard core cubicles and sawdust covered mats

 

[som farmer]

as above, pleased as punch, sprinkle a bit on every day, good mastitus control, no issues, are you putting to much on ?

 

[lazy farmer]

Have you checked for SARA?

 

[Bald Rick]

We switched to Nadins recently too. Just a light dusting every day then topped off with sawdust.

I suspect poor beds are more likely to be your problem

 

[jobean]

Will look into Nadins.

Have no reason to suspect SARA, swollen hocks have been an issue for number of years but trying to address it now.

I think poor bedding is definitely an issue and I should be using more straw and by the sounds of it less lime if not another product

 

[jobean]

I used to use nadins, always knew it as hydramix. I found it used to form solid sheets on the back of the beds to changed to bio lime. Realising now this was probably down to using too much again...

 

[Bald Rick]

I used to use nadins, always knew it as hydramix. I found it used to form solid sheets on the back of the beds to changed to bio lime. Realising now this was probably down to using too much again...

Yes, sold as Hydramix from Nadins

Just a light dusting then cover

 

[Sandpit Farm]

I would look at other things too. They should have sufficient space to lunge... ideally 3' forward of the brisket bar and without that awkward bar that I see all the time that cows bang their chin on. If they don't have this, they will rock when lunging and will rub their hocks.

That hock doesn't look too bad compared to some I have seen but where you get swollen or sore hocks, it is usually abrasive bedding and insufficient lunge space. I suspect you are just using too much lime.

So you need to have a look in the shed in the middle of the day and count how many cows are stood up that aren't eating, drinking or bulling. If they are stood in their bed, stood waiting to drink/eat (without eating) etc - you count them. 15% is acceptable but if you have more than that, you need to look at why.