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Farmer experience: Optimising air quality and cow comfort in dairy housing pays dividends
Zara Dorrington runs an 810-hectare mixed farm in Lincolnshire, comprised of an arable enterprise and a 300-cow Holstein dairy herd.
In 2019, a new dairy house was built for the milking herd because of a tuberculosis breakdown. Farm manager, Zara Dorrington explained that air quality was a top priority to improve cow health and longevity. She shares her experience with EazyBed Dry to help manage the microbial environment in the new barn.
Zara explains:
The new shed was also a unique opportunity to influence and manage the animal’s environment and favour the development of beneficial microbes, without needing to use intensive disinfectants. To achieve this, we started using a new bacterial bedding conditioner, EazyBed Dry."
“We have found the product much more user-friendly with it being less abrasive than our previous product, and its good drying ability has helped to reduce mastitis cases.”
“This microbial-based product has a positive effect on air quality. The lack of smell within the shed is noticeable, which, alongside good ventilation, is due to the good bacteria in the bedding conditioner working against the bacteria that play a role in ammonia production,” she says.
She added:
Eazybed Dry has also reduced our labour requirements without compromising cow health. As it only needs to be applied once or twice a week, it’s more cost effective overall than the previous product we were using."
Zara says that improving the efficiency of slurry management was another goal when building the new shed.
She adds:
The good bacteria from the bacterial bedding conditioner flow with the slurry into the lagoon and help break down the solids within the manure, improving its consistency and making it easier to apply and handle."
“All of the slurry from the dairy unit is run through a separator to help balance phosphorus and potassium, and then is applied back onto the crops to reduce our reliance on artificial fertilizer.”
She concludes:
Following the success of encouraging the development of beneficial bacteria within the dairy housing, we’re now looking to roll this out in our dry cow and youngstock housing. We hope this will help reduce the build-up of negative bacteria and enhance air quality.
Discover Zara Dorrington’s farm in this video!
Disclaimer: Please note that EazyBed Pro has been renamed to EazyBed Dry. All references to EazyBed Pro now refer to the updated product name.
Published Nov 13, 2024 | Updated Aug 6, 2025
