McLanahan Agricultural Dewatering Screens Reduce Moisture Content in Recycled Sand Bedding
Clean, dry bedding is important for enhancing cow comfort, lowering somatic cell count and improving milk quality.
For dairy producers using recycled bedding sand, reducing the moisture content in that sand is the first step to preventing mastitis and ensuring healthy, comfortable cows.
What is the ideal moisture content in recycled sand ready for reuse?
Bedding sand that is purchased new can range in moisture from 5-10%. Sand discharged from a sand recovery system can be as high in moisture as 20%, depending on the system. The recovered sand typically needs to sit and drain, possibly for weeks at a time, in order to hit that 5-10% target moisture content before it can be placed back under the cows.
Adding a sand dewatering system, such as an Agricultural Sand Dewatering Screen, after a sand recovery system can help speed up the time it takes for sand to dewater.
Agricultural Sand Dewatering Screens can be used following sand separation systems and in conjunction with sand lanes. In either setup, the sand is fed onto the steep, downward inclined surface of the Agricultural Sand Dewatering Screen. Counter-rotating vibratory motors create a motion that accelerates the sand upward and forward, which forces the water and small organic fibers through the openings in the screen surface.
Benefits of Agricultural Sand Dewatering Screens
Agricultural Sand Dewatering Screens remove up to 40% of the moisture from sand recovered from a sand separation system to produce a drip-free bedding sand that can be reused in the freestalls more quickly. Because the sand can be reused faster, less money needs to be tied up in sand inventory.
In addition to removing moisture, Agricultural Sand Dewatering Screens also remove up to 80% of the organic matter. This results in bedding that is not only drier, but cleaner as well.