Moisture is one of the primary life-sustaining requirements for bacteria. Take it away and you’ll greatly reduce the opportunity for bacteria to survive.
For dairy producers bedding on recycled sand or dried manure solids, reducing moisture is the first step toward preventing mastitis, lowering somatic cell count, enhancing cow comfort and improving milk quality. Milk quality experts recommend an optimum moisture content of less than 10 percent for sand and 50 percent for manure solids.
Reducing moisture in bedding to optimum levels can be achieved through a variety of drying methods. No one size fits all, and the right one depends on your bedding material, budget, space availability and labor resources. Here is a summary of some of the most popular drying tools and strategies available to dairy producers bedding on reclaimed sand or manure solids:
Click here or on the image above to view it at full size in a new window.
A clean, dry resting environment enhances cow comfort, reduces the risk of bacterial infection and reduces SCC for higher-quality milk.
The right drying method can help you more fully realize the economic and environmental benefits of using recycled bedding materials on your dairy. 
Robert Plank is a global product manager of agricultural products with McLanahan Corporation.
