Sand bedding

jcb411abuser

Well-Known Member
Using sand in with calves here. A foot deep at the back and sloping forward in a 10ft x 10ft pen, 5ton lasted 6 calves a month now and I'm pretty happy with it. I'd like a way to wash it though as thats the real potential in sand. Anyone any inexpensive methods to do the job?
 
Well i had 6 calves in 2 pens 7ft x 7ft on plastic slats which are 30 years old and today i cleaned out under the slats 3 wheelbarrows of shlt in each pen
 
Using sand in with calves here. A foot deep at the back and sloping forward in a 10ft x 10ft pen, 5ton lasted 6 calves a month now and I'm pretty happy with it. I'd like a way to wash it though as thats the real potential in sand. Anyone any inexpensive methods to do the job?
Diet feeder and lots of water?
 
Diet feeder and lots of water?
Thinking about that we even have an old hispec 14 cube paddle that we don't use as we've went to bales. She'd need a tidy up but my cousin has a Star set up for washing beet so might get the lend of that for a trial.
 
or breaking the mixer.
Well if it my own I wouldn't worry, neither mixer is for feeding anyway and my cousin has given up beet too. I'd say you'd have to head the diet feeder well up hill for it to do any job at all. My thinking is on the principle of the screw auger cleaners.
 
I wonder if you left it outside for a few months would the rain and sun clean it enough.
 
My thoughts too.
Buy another 5t and cycle them.
One lump outside cleaning. And the other under them!
Hey it's all worth a go. Plan is to eventually try and bed the cows on a sand pack if I can make it add up. Gotta the feet are spotless on the calves. It gets harder to work with after 3 weeks though kinda forms a skin on top even after you mix it up again it'll be impermeable in 24hours. First 3 weeks it was a dream though. I'm guessing it's just saturated and dirty at this point.
 
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