Switching from straw to saw dust

[rc mx110]

Ok I know the other day I said, I wish Sharon from platts would bogg off but......
Been wondering
Now currently bedding the cubicles (70) with chopped straw with a teagle 404 once daily use about a third of an average quadrant bale. And a bag of lime every other.

When I scrape into the lagoon the lagoon the very strawy muck builds up by the holes. Not a problem when lagoon is less than 3/4 full and ground conditions good as I just spead it straight away like sloppy FYM. Its like now when lagoon is nearly full it becomes a slight problem and need to use handler just to boom out and push it away from the holes.

Cows are currently v clean on straw, so thats not an issue.

My questions are; some stupid
How much is sawdust in the bags like 25kg cake sacks?
How much dust would I use on 70 cubicles? If I change prob put mattresses in too
Would the muck then virtually all slurry then? So no build up of solids by the gates?
Would I be better of dusting the beds 2 daily?

Oppinions??
My thinking is scaping and mixing the slurry will be easier, and prob less cause less fibre in the poop

 

[Kingofgrass]

Ok I know the other day I said, I wish Sharon from platts would bogg off but......
Been wondering
Now currently bedding the cubicles (70) with chopped straw with a teagle 404 once daily use about a third of an average quadrant bale. And a bag of lime every other.

When I scrape into the lagoon the lagoon the very strawy muck builds up by the holes. Not a problem when lagoon is less than 3/4 full and ground conditions good as I just spead it straight away like sloppy FYM. Its like now when lagoon is nearly full it becomes a slight problem and need to use handler just to boom out and push it away from the holes.

Cows are currently v clean on straw, so thats not an issue.

My questions are; some stupid
How much is sawdust in the bags like 25kg cake sacks?
How much dust would I use on 70 cubicles? If I change prob put mattresses in too
Would the muck then virtually all slurry then? So no build up of solids by the gates?
Would I be better of dusting the beds 2 daily?

Oppinions??
My thinking is scaping and mixing the slurry will be easier, and prob less cause less fibre in the poop

We've bin on sawdust for years now works well but found doing it 2x a day is the best! Bags are f in expensive,I'd say double the price of bulk if you can store it treat ur self to a big wheel barrow, I'd say you'd use 6 a day,yeah mattresses are really good
Straws a nightmare for umbilical and tankers,if you go on sawdust it'll be a lot easier to mix and spread.you will still get a layer of sediment in the bottom tho no matter what you use
As for my thread the other day about platts saw dust I went there the other day and there sorting it out at the summer price!
Do u pre dip or dry wipe?

 

[rc mx110]

We've bin on sawdust for years now works well but found doing it 2x a day is the best! Bags are f in expensive,I'd say double the price of bulk if you can store it treat ur self to a big wheel barrow, I'd say you'd use 6 a day,yeah mattresses are really good
Straws a nightmare for umbilical and tankers,if you go on sawdust it'll be a lot easier to mix and spread.you will still get a layer of sediment in the bottom tho no matter what you use
As for my thread the other day about platts saw dust I went there the other day and there sorting it out at the summer price!
Do u pre dip or dry wipe?

I may go all the way and get the ag mini big bro to join the fleet, impressed with the mini (+ it was cheap shop soiled)

Our lagoon is a big concrete floor ramp so sediment isn't an issue. Besides it can't be worse than a mountain of straw/poop in the scraping hole gates

We just use a wet wipe pre milking, 99% of the cows are clean they barely discolour the wipe. Mainly its just a wipe to remove any straw that may of stuck to teat

 

[Kingofgrass]

I may go all the way and get the ag mini big bro to join the fleet, impressed with the mini (+ it was cheap shop soiled)

Our lagoon is a big concrete floor ramp so sediment isn't an issue. Besides it can't be worse than a mountain of straw/poop in the scraping hole gates

We just use a wet wipe pre milking, 99% of the cows are clean they barely discolour the wipe. Mainly its just a wipe to remove any straw that may of stuck to teat

We normal just dry wipe,but having to pre dip at the moment till I get rid of this f in white weird saw dust!must av some weird bacteria in it f**kin with the bacto scan.never seen it do this b4!weve got a q bed machines but at 11k it might be cheap to buy a barrow for 70 cubicles

 

[rc mx110]

We normal just dry wipe,but having to pre dip at the moment till I get rid of this f in white weird saw dust!must av some weird bacteria in it fudgein with the bacto scan.never seen it do this b4!weve got a q bed machines but at 11k it might be cheap to buy a barrow for 70 cubicles

One them push along tubs I was meaning, 11k is a tad dear

 

[Kingofgrass]

Yeah but bedding 300cubicles 2x a day the saving on sawdust alone pays for the machine let alone the speed and time saving

 

[roscoe erf]

don't you f**king dare

 

[Sparkymark]

2 x a day dusting down works best. We have moved on from big bickets that tuck under your arm to a AG push along this winter, much easier job now.

 

[rc mx110]

So how much is dust. Currently using roughly 1/3 of a bale per day, so roughly £7-10 ????

 

[roscoe erf]

So how much is dust. Currently using roughly 1/3 of a bale per day, so roughly £7-10 ????

be twice that

 

[Scholsey]

Used to take us 6-8 hours to get the lagoon stirred before umbilical pumping when using 1 well chopped (Teagle 404m) round bale on mattresses now we use 5 bags of ardens sawdust on waterbeds and took 30 mins to stir the lagoon!

 

[Penmoel]

80 cubicles here dusted twice daily on mattresses uses 2 bags at least of forage traders sawdust @£2.65 a bag

How much are those AG push along jobs?

Slurry goes out through slats no problem with umbilical

 

[Penmoel]

be twice that

Says the straw man

 

[rc mx110]

80 cubicles here dusted twice daily on mattresses uses 2 bags at least of forage traders sawdust @£2.65 a bag

How much are those AG push along jobs?

Gwili quoted me 1400 for a new mini, only lime
I got a shop soiled one from charlies welshpool for 800 but no charger

 

[rc mx110]

80 cubicles here dusted twice daily on mattresses uses 2 bags at least of forage traders sawdust @£2.65 a bag

How much are those AG push along jobs?

Slurry goes out through slats no problem with umbilical

So possibly a small saving then

 

[Penmoel]

just dry wipe over teats cows are nice and clean , perhaps we should use lime more often

 

[rc mx110]

just dry wipe over teats cows are nice and clean , perhaps we should use lime more often

Ours are clean with straw and just get a wet wipe down before milking

 

[Penmoel]

How much will the mattresses cost you?

When I said slurry goes through slats, we scrape all passages to a slurry channel which it drops into down to the pit.

 

[pappuller]

Ours are clean with straw and just get a wet wipe down before milking

To make a good bed of dust youll use toward 4 bags a day roughly £2.50 + a bag, ag maxi from garnetts approx £1300 will hold 2 bags but youll need a good mask and glasses, do you tank or spread your muck ? Do you need to spend more money if your results are good and it isn't too big of an inconvenience for spreading ?

 

[pine_guy]

Totally thinking aloud, what about straw through a rotogrind thing that they use for pre chopping straw for TMR. How short would it be?

When I was a lad, we used to chop straw through a forager to bed cubicles. Auto scrapers, we used to have a plate we pulled back to shove the muck into the channels as it all wouldn't go through slats. Pumped into a tower and mixed with no real trouble.