EnviroBed® is verified by the Organic Farmers and Growers for use on organic farms and each load is quality tested for quality assurance.

Availability:

EnviroBed® cow bedding is produced by EnviroSystems and delivered direct to farm on:

• Artic tippers
• Artic walking floors
• 8 wheelers.
• Tall tote bags
• Small bags on pallets

Benefits of using EnviroBed and moving away from lime on your cubicles

Many of the antimicrobial cow bedding products available to farmers involve killing the pathogenic bacteria it comes into contact with by producing conditions under which the bacteria can not survive. This usually involves highly alkaline conditions (pH 10+) caused by the addition of lime, caustic soda (hydroxides) or bleach products (hypochlorite or peroxides). However, these conditions are equally as unpleasant to skin, and with cows lying on the cow bedding material for prolonged periods of time, these corrosive chemicals can lead to irritation and damage to the teat end. Once the skin is damaged, mastitis causing bacteria (E.Coli, Streptococcus and Staphylococcus) which are naturally present in the farm environment can readily enter the body, leading to infection and inflammation of the teat end, resulting in mastitis.

EnviroBed cow bedding has a proven history of reducing mastitis, without having any active antimicrobial properties in itself. The cow bedding contains dried paper which does not have any antibacterial activity, nor is the pH so extreme that bacteria cannot survive. Instead, the anti-mastitic properties of EnviroBed come from the reduced irritation and skin damage to teat ends.

The livestock bedding’s natural pH of 7.4 does not damage, corrode or cause abrasion to the skin barrier, meaning the natural population of bacteria will still be present on the outside of the teat, but cannot permeate the skin barrier and cause inflammation inside the teat body. These bacteria will then be removed every time the teat end is cleaned pre/post milking, because they are only sitting on the surface of the skin and can be easily washed away.

The longer a cow spends lying down in comfort, the less energy is wasted on movement and the more of those nutrients can be used to produce milk. A comfortable bed with no irritation or corrosion of the skin should increase the length of time a cow is happy to remain laid down.

It honours an old fashioned rule that will always hold true, through good and hard times alike: You look after your cows, and they’ll look after you.

The BioCircle Link: 

Traditional lime-based cow bedding kills bacteria indiscriminately due to the high pH. If an excesses of lime-based cow bedding makes its way into slurry stores and AD plants, the lime can accumulate and raise the pH of these systems to conditions where the bacteria breaking down the slurry (SlurryBugs) can no longer survive. EnviroBed’s pH of 7.4 means that the cow bedding can be added to slurry and AD systems without disrupting these bacteria. 

EnviroBed cow bedding’s pH is also kinder on the teat ends, meaning that the skin surface condition is much improved and has fewer irritations and cracks. This means that when used with a nourishing and skin sensitive teat cleaner such as EnviroCare Teat, the bacteria are easily washed off the surface and have a reduced ability to penetrate the skin surface and cause inflammation within the teat body.