Ditching dust for a healthier herd

case study Ditching the dust for a healthier herd

4th generation farmer William Dandie works with his brother, father, and uncle to make 10,000 straw bales a year at the family’s farm near Edinburgh. 2,500 are used to bed 500 Limousin cross cattle, a process that has become far more efficient since they bought a KUHN bedding machine.

The farm immediately reduced straw usage and labour, with only two people needed compared to the four it took to bed out the herd by hand. The KUHN Primor 3570 machine is also able to distribute the straw more evenly throughout the shed. However, there is a further benefit that Mr Dandie has seen following his investment:

“We now sell directly to local butchers and so the look of the cattle and the shed is paramount because they post pictures on social media and use them in their butcheries. We therefore bed every other day, and that was taking a lot of man hours. I can’t believe we kept doing it by hand for so long,” he says.

The family is also pleased to be out of the dusty conditions. The move to a mechanised process has reduced dust levels thanks to the Cleanstraw dust control system on the Primor.

Available on new equipment or as a retrofit upgrade for existing machines, the Cleanstraw facility reduces dust in livestock buildings by applying a fine mist of water to straw as it is distributed. It comprises a 64-litre water tank and three misting nozzles mounted at the exit of the straw blowing chute. The nozzles are fed by a pump which provides water at a flow rate to apply 1 litre of water per 100kg of straw, without slowing the machine’s normal performance.

Applying a mist of water at this rate, and in this way, eliminates excessive levels of airborne dust by reducing the amount of time that these particles remain suspended in the air. Trials have shown that the air in a typical livestock building will be dust-free within 30 seconds after straw-blowing with the Cleanstraw system has ceased, compared to several minutes without the Cleanstraw facility.

“Adding a fine mist of water as straw exits the spreading chute means very little water is required. This preserves the straw’s absorbency potential, keeping it hygienic and also means the speed of operation is unaffected. This enables us to bed out the entire barn in an hour and a half.”

The Cleanstraw system is available on Kuhn’s Primor straw bedders that operate with the Polydrive hydraulically disengageable belt system that drives the feed rotor, and on the Profile Plus range of mixer wagons that have a bedding

capability. The system is automatically activated when the Polydrive is engaged and can also be armed or disabled via an in-cab switch.

By no longer expecting members of the team to be in with the cattle he is also protecting both.

“It was never really an issue being amongst the herd, but with the machine it is much easier and the cattle never appear in any way stressed when it’s working. This means we can minimise risk to both livestock and the team, make better use of the straw we have and improve the overall welfare of our cattle for the butchers who buy them.”

There were some concerns of moving to a mechanised process, but William, his brother, father, and uncle have all been very pleased with the outcome.

“You naturally feel like you don’t spend the same amount of time with the herd and when we took on the Primor we were concerned about stones getting into the machine, but we haven’t had any issues and the stone strap works very well.”

The net result is that the family can sell more of the 10,000 bales they make each year to

The Primor features KUHN’s Cleanstraw facility to reduce dust in livestock buildings by applying a fine mist of water to straw as it is distributed

generate extra income whilst also improving herd health on their own farm.

“We are finishing 400 head a year, so any economies we can make count. The machine is in its third year, and we haven’t had any problems, so it has certainly been a worthwhile investment,” he concludes.