Bedding quality can benefit udder health

On average, dairy cows spend 10-13 hours per day lying down. This is also how long their teats are in direct contact with the bedding materials, making it easy to realise how important it is to maintain good bedding quality.

Deteriorated bedding may ultimately impact udder health (for example, somatic cell counts, or SCC) and farm revenue. The published study evaluates a dedicated microbial-based bedding conditioner, Manure Pro, a water-dispersible powder with live bacteria and enzymes that promotes the development of these beneficial microorganisms when applied to the bedding material. In the study, this microbial based bedding conditioner was used on a bedding material consisting of recycled manure solids (RMS).

RMS is obtained by mechanically separating manure removed from dairy cow housing systems. Its low cost of recovery, as well as wide availability, has allowed RMS to be used as an alternative source of bedding. While an economic and sustainable solution for dairy farms, RMS can pose a higher challenge in terms of microbial pressure on the animals. The scientists used specific omics techniques (16S amplicon sequencing) to decipher the effect of the microbial bedding conditioner on the bedding microbiota.

The study confirmed that by maintaining the bedding quality, the dedicated microbial based conditioner:

• Significantly helped maintain a low SCC level in milk during the summer months (Figure 1);
• Helped reduce the risk of being over 250,000 SCC by 5.3 times on average for the Manure Pro cows versus the control group;
• Tended to reduce the risk of environmental mastitis with an overall downward trend through August;
• Had no impact on the milk microflora (both total flora of milk and spore content).

The increase in SCC seen in the control pens was not observed in treated pens, meaning that Manure Pro – through maintenance of the bedding microbial quality – significantly helped keep a low SCC level in milk during the summer months.

* Duniere L, Frayssinet B, Achard C, Chevaux E, Plateau J. 0. Conditioner application improves bedding quality and bacterial composition with potential beneficial impacts for dairy cow’s health. Microbiol Spectr 0:e04263-23.