Case Study: Animal bedding cost and somatic cell count across New England dairy farms: Relationship with bedding material, housing type, herd size, and management system

Research on bedding material for dairy farmers typically focuses on microbial growth and associations with SCC. With few exceptions, information on cost or why farmers select specific bedding materials is absent from the literature. This survey study of conventional and organic dairy farmers from the 6-state New England region addresses these gaps, by exploring the relationship between bedding material cost and producer-reported SCC with bedding selection, housing type, farm scale, and management system. Survey analysis of 129 New England dairy farmers showed that the primary bedding materials used by respondents from conventional farms were sawdust, sand, and wood shavings, whereas organic farmers predominantly used sawdust, hay, and sand. From 2003 to 2013 the real cost of bedding material for survey respondents increased by 70% for conventional dairy farmers ($85 to $184/cow per year) and 71% for organic dairy farmers ($67 to $145/cow per year). Of the various bedding materials used by respondents, the cost of wood shavings was more costly than other bedding materials for both conventional and organic dairy farmers. Respondents using freestalls had lower bedding material costs than other housing types, especially those using bedded packs, which had the highest material costs for both management systems. For conventional and organic farms, bedding cost decreased as herd size increased. When analyzing producer-reported SCC, no trends were apparent with housing type, herd size, or management system. However, respondents using sawdust reported elevated SCC when compared with producers using other bedding materials.