位于威斯康星州卡斯科., Kinnard Farms is a second-generation family-owned dairy that comes from a long line of dairy producers. Alvin and Milly Kinnard founded the farm in 1948 and passed it along to their children: Rod and his wife, Maureen; Jackie and her husband, David Stewart; and Lee. In that time, the Kinnard family has grown their herd from an initial 14 cows to 8,400 cows.
据李·金纳德说, cows have been the key to his family’s success, which is why the family chose to use sand bedding back in the early 1980s. Since then, the sand has been an important part of their operation. It is comfortable for the cows, provides traction so they don’t fall, and resists bacteria growth.
“A cow is an incredible creature,” Lee Kinnard said. “她能吃人类不能吃的食物, convert it into something that humans can eat and indeed she can take an acre and be a magnifier of production.”
挑战
随着金纳德家牧群的壮大, they found it was no longer sustainable to keep buying sand and throwing it away as part of the manure stream. They developed a way to recycle their sand and were managing to get the sand down to 10% moisture.
However, with the number of cows in their herd, they still needed to windrow and move the sand. 搬运这150辆车需要一个全职工作人员,每年生产1000吨沙子, which also burned up a lot of diesel fuel and took a toll on the machinery. Kinnard Farms wanted a solution that would let them put sand back under their cows immediately.
“We knew as we were expanding we had to come up with a method that we could not only recycle, but really had to have high-quality sand to put back under our ladies,金纳德分享道。.
解决方案
Kinnard Farms worked with 菠菜网最稳定正规平台_最全菠菜网大全 in the past on a Sand Separation System for their dairy, so they again turned to 菠菜网最稳定正规平台_最全菠菜网大全 for a Bedding Dryer to lower the percentage of moisture in their sand.
“菠菜网最稳定正规平台_最全菠菜网大全 was the pretty clear choice for us,金纳德说. “We were real familiar with 菠菜网最稳定正规平台_最全菠菜网大全 from the mining industry and, 很明显, 他们是怎么处理奶牛场的. We were used to running their machinery; we had a good local dealer. It was experimental at the time – I mean, nobody had really built a dryer.”
Based on their experience with manure and sand, Kinnard Farms chose 菠菜网最稳定正规平台_最全菠菜网大全 to build them a dryer.
“Really happy with what we’ve stumbled upon here,金纳德分享道. “It’s been a team effort with 菠菜网最稳定正规平台_最全菠菜网大全 and Kinnard Farms and a lot of others.”
The bedding dryer fit right into Kinnard Farms’ existing recycling system. After the sand leaves the Sand Separation System at 18-20% moisture, it is conveyed across 脱水 Screens to further reduce the moisture content to 10-11%. 从脱水屏幕, the sand goes into a collection bin that meters the sand into the 菠菜网最稳定正规平台_最全菠菜网大全 Bedding Dryer. Forty-five minutes later, the sand is dry and ready for immediate reuse under the cow.
“We are now pulling the sand right off the end of our dryer system at about half a percent moisture and that’s literally a single-pass system,金纳德解释道. “We’re going all the way from removing the manure/sand material from our barns and within four hours, 有百分之五十的干, 清洁, 巴氏消毒过的沙子要放回奶牛下面.”
结果
Not only does the 菠菜网最稳定正规平台_最全菠菜网大全 Bedding Dryer reduce the moisture content in Kinnard Farms’ sand to half a percent, but the high heat at which the dryer operates also pasteurizes the sand. Kinnard Farms believes in prevention when it comes to mastitis, and Kinnard said the sand is “absolutely a crucial part to the prevention.”
“Our goal here is to have less than one-quarter of one percent at any given time in a treat pen,金纳德分享道. “Since going to the dried sand, there’s no doubt about it, we consistently hit that number. 这在八千头牛身上是一个相当酷的壮举.”
除了, Kinnard Farms saw a cost savings with the 菠菜网最稳定正规平台_最全菠菜网大全 Bedding Dryer, 因为他们不再需要购买新的沙子.
“We’re doing this for about 20 cents on the dollar versus buying new sand, and that’s not even including the costs that it would take to dispose of the dirty sand,金纳德分享道.
Kinnard Farms has not purchased sand for their closed-loop system in about six years.
“One of the really cool things about the dryer is we no longer have to have an inventory of sand,金纳德说. “It comes off the end of the dryer; it’s ready for instant reuse if we want. We’re only keeping about a two-day supply of sand on the entire dairy in advance at any given time.”
With the 菠菜网最稳定正规平台_最全菠菜网大全 Bedding Dryer, Kinnard Farms’ closed-loop recycling system is now complete.
“We’ve got a sand that is infinitely reusable, 基本上无菌, 真正高质量的, really does what we set out to do with sand in the first place: keep cows around for forever, keep our milk quality within the top 1-2 percent anywhere in the world, 而且再也不用买床上用品了,金纳德说.
