Spring Lawn Inn and Suites

It is so impressive to go into the barn and see almost every cow laying down.  They just look so comfortable on the new composted solid bedding. 

Our cows make their own decisions.  They decide when they want to eat, sleep and get milked.  That is their routine, and when they have comfortable beds they sleep and rest a whole lot more.

The bedding material that we use is actually pasteurized manure.  Now you may be saying something like, "that is so gross," but here's how it works. 

  A cow eats about 105lbs. of feed and drinks 50 gallons of water per day.  The feed consists of chopped up corn, grass, and crushed soybeans.  Manure is the undigested fibers left from what she eats.  The manure is scraped to the ends of the barn where it flows into a holding tank.  From there, the manure is sent to a screw-press separator, where the liquid is squeezed out.  What is left is the solid fibers.  The fibers are sent by a conveyor to a large drum.

In the drum, the fibers heat up to 140F.  The heating process kills any bacteria that might be living in the fibers.  As the drum fills up, the older material get pushed to the front where it falls out a little door and is carried away to a pile.  And from there it is scooped up and distributed onto the cows beds.

The composted solids are very soft and comfortable for the cow to lay on, making her happy and in return making all our hard work worth the effort.


Me and Jamster