Compostbarns: The healthy alternative to indoor cow shelters, feedlot areas and for improved effluent control.

Compost bedding & cow well-being

Compost-bedded soft floor barns allow for greatly increased dairy-cow comfort. The cows spend much of their time eating or resting up and/or chewing their cud. Compostbarn owners say that cows with leg or feet problems can in-fact recover when housed in a Redpath compost barn when compared to hard floor barns with effluent solids acting as their floor pad.

Compost barn operational concepts

The only on-going maintenance is the action of tilling and aerating the composting bedding on a regular basis.

Compost barns act as a solid manure storage facility; it can then be applied to the land or sold into the marketplace as compost as an almost dry and friable material and offers excellent slow release nutrients properties.

Compost barns will typically have 6 - 7 sq/m of composting bedding area per cow. The bedding material choices are typically Large woodchips,

Large Bark Mixes, Heavy Post peelings, Corn stalks, Straw, Sand, Pumice etc - or all of these medias combined.  It is very popular and most cost effective to woodchip existing shelter tress on the farm It is possible or add sawdust to the composting bedded pack.  It is very important to provide sufficient drainage for the a compostbarn, especially if they are being used for wintering of cows for long periods!.  Drains spaced at 1.2m centers and around the exterior perimeter of the building should be located within the shelter prior to construction (see drawing below).

The building should also be constructed on a slightly raised pad (above surrounding ground level) to help prevent surround ground water entering the shelter and degrading the soft litter flooring condition. Bedding materials that break down speedily and "pug up"  are not recommended as bacteria growth environmental mastitis may occur and thus increase the teat exposure to pathogens.  However - in the composting bedded-pack, microbial growth is encouraged and this will increase the composting bedded pack temperature helping to inactivate the  pathogens. the farm for bedding.  Note: As with any barn held cow , a good cleaning system should be in place for the cows before processing/milking.

Other basics:

Compost bedded barns are an alternative housing system for milking and special needs cows that provide very good cow comfort.

Bedding management and mix options is important as it encourages the composting process virtually eliminating effluent run-off and minimizing pathogen exposure. The composting bedded-pack should  be mixed regularly for improved aeration and drainage. A depth of 300 to 400mm is typical. Mixing promotes and introduces oxygen to enhance composting and aerobic decomposition of the manure and urine, and also removes manure and urine from the bedding surface.  Mixing also promotes drainage of any water/waste to the drainage system beneath.  A bonus of this system is that odors are also reduced greatly.

The buildings ventilation system (see Redpath ridge ventilation designs) and the restriction of rain water and also trough water from the bedding material is important to composting bedded pack.  Roof ventilation (ideally automated) will also assist in the drying of the bedded surface and will retard bacterial growth and keep cows cleaner because dry bedding does not stick to teats or leg surfaces.

Effective pre-milking cow cleaning is required when using a composting bedded-pack to remove potential bacteria from the cows teat surface. Compost barns are generally constructed from all steel materials and feature clear roofing (industry standard heavy-duty Durashelter 230micron farm animal covering).  The clear Durashelter offers a minimum service life of typically ten years and offers transmission of PAR* light  (*Photosynthetic Active Radiation)  for substantially improved composting and breakdown of effluent.  The Durashelter roof covering also promotes infra-red energy entrapment within the structure and increases the speed of the natural floor composting process.   This type of light is also important to promote cow health, in that it effectively provides an "outdoor environment" indoors, making the cows feel that they are in  a very natural environment.

COSTS:
Compostbarns offer a very cost effective and functional solution to farms that wish to expand their current feedpad or standoffpad management process.  Compost barns have generic lower costs than traditional hard floor cow housing primarily because the flooring material is at much reduced cost and also the barn is designed as an "open plan unit" for the cows to wander and rest as they please.  There is also less concrete for manure alleys and curbing, and the benefits of keeping the cows off paddocks that are in poor condition or when the weather is poor is well proven.  Allowing the cows to rest and feed under a well lit and warm compostbarn style structure has proven to be a very cost effective way to maintain cow weight and condition.

*figures are as of 1/3/10 and are herd size specific