Limiting the air available to microbes can reduce or stop composting. Proper ventilation ensures microbes are supplied adequate oxygen essential for proper composting. Designing the barn with high side walls and fans provides natural and mechanical ventilation. Adequate air flow is not only important for cow health and comfort but also to feed air into to CBP. The aerobic composting process requires oxygen. When planning the foot print of the barn, design for the peak number of animals and not the average to ensure adequate space year round. High stocking rates can also pack down the CBP, restricting air flow to the microbes and reducing composting efficiency. Overcrowding the barn results in too much moisture, dirty cows, and potential for udder health consequences. Smaller framed cows, such as a Jersey, require less space. Producers should aim to provide 125 to 150 square feet per Holstein cow. Stocking rates in a CBP are driven by the urine and fecal outputs of the cows. A CBP is not always forgiving to those fluctuations. If the material cannot form a ball, the CBP is too dry and you can wait before adding more bedding.Īnimal numbers can fluctuate on a dairy. If water drips out of the ball, the CBP is too wet and you should add more bedding. To quickly test moisture, grab a handful of compost material and squeeze it. The CBP should be between 45 and 55% moisture.
Moisture content (and not time) determines when additional bedding needs to be added. Other bedding alternatives exist, though may require more frequent additions and result in less efficient composting. A mixture of kiln-dried sawdust and shavings remains the “gold standard” for CBP bedding. Before deciding to construct a CBP barn, consider where and at what cost you can acquire a continuous supply of bedding material. Bedding acts as the carbon source, or essentially food, for the microorganisms within the composting bed. In a CBP barn, bedding is more than an absorbent lying surface for your cows.
A successful CBP begins with three key principles: bedding, stocking density, and air flow. However, proper barn design and excellent daily management are essential for successful composting and to avoid negative animal health outcomes. These barns allow natural resting positions and offer shelter with a reduced infrastructure cost compared to traditional freestall barns. She is clean and comfortable.Ĭompost bedded pack (CBP) barns are an increasingly popular open barn design for housing dairy cattle, particularly with funding opportunities available through the California Department of Food and Agriculture's Alternative Manure Management Program.
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