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One unusual bedding material being offered this winter is miscanthus.
The crop was originally grown on Irish farms as an energy crop, with farmers at one time receiving grants to plant it for use in biomass production.
With no renewable heat incentive available since the crops were planted, the potential market for it is limited.
As a result, stores full of this crop exist in parts of the country. One of the country’s largest stores of miscanthus is now being made available by Quinns of Baltinglass as an option for farmers.
Miscanthus is a bamboo-like plant but, while it has a much stronger stalk than straw, it is still a grass.
It is planted using rhizomes and once it gets established it will regenerate every year without replanting. It is harvested between mid-March and mid-April. Some farmers bale the crop into 8x4x3 bales and store it.
Quinns are offering large 8x4x3 bales for €50 out of the store, not including transport costs. The bales weigh between 350kg and 375kg, with a moisture content of between 12-15%, according to Paddy O’Toole from Quinns of Baltinglass.
Miscanthus is used to bed horses as ground-up shavings. However, what is being proposed for cattle is to use the material in its baled form, or to put it through a straw chopper and blower to break it down.
These options provide a much coarser material than the shavings.
“The more that it can be broken down, the more absorbent it will be,” said Barry Caslin, who has been involved in miscanthus research with Teagasc.
Miscanthus in action
Dairy calf-to-beef farmer John Burke, who lives outside Baltinglass, has been testing miscanthus as a bedding material.
He has it in some of his sheds for the past three weeks as a trial. When we first visited the farm we saw a pen recently bedded with miscanthus.
First visit: cattle had been housed on miscanthus for two weeks at this stage.
We also looked at a pen that had been bedded for the past two weeks. We returned a week later to assess the condition of the bedding following three weeks in use.
First visit
The first pen John tested was a 9.1m x 23m dry pen. It was first bedded two weeks previously with six 8x4x3 miscanthus bales which had been put through a straw chopper to help break them up.
It is not recommended to use a straw blower when cattle are in the pen due to the level of dust. That pen contained 21 store bullocks weighing between 450kg and 500kg. It was bedded once at the beginning according to the farmer, at a cost of €300 (six bales x €50).
This pen was recently bedded with miscanthus that was not chopped.
After two weeks on the material, the first thing that struck us was how clean the cattle were – the low stocking density helped this. However, when the bedding, which was between 5-6in deep, was stirred up it was clear it still had much more capacity for absorption as some of the lower material was still dry.
Second visit: the bedding was holding up well after three and a half weeks.
The miscanthus provided a spongy but firm surface under the animals’ feet and they did not sink into it. The farmer’s aim is to get at least a month out of the bedding but it could last three weeks or up to five weeks, according to John.
Stocking rate will have a large impact on the length any bedding material will last but, from the evidence, it would not be difficult to see it lasting for four weeks before the cattle need to be rebedded.
The intention then is to replenish the pen with another two to three bales, depending on how the bedding performs.
Second visit
Cattle had been bedded with miscanthus for three and a half weeks at this stage. Ten more cattle had been added to the pen for the last week, bringing the total to 31. The miscanthus had broken down much more as a result of the higher stocking rate.
It is obvious the bedding will last beyond the intended four weeks. Upon stirring up a small portion, there was still some dry miscanthus and it had further absorption capacity. Overall the bedding was holding up very well.
While it is a coarser material than straw, there is no concern about its ability to break down according to Barry Caslin.
Second visit: the higher stocking rate in the pen lead the the further breakdown of the miscanthus.
“It’s not a wood product, it’s a biomass and it will break down. It is similar to straw in the way that it will break down when it is left in a heap.”
While it may take somewhat longer to break down than straw, it can still be spread on the land.
Cost
For many farmers cost will dictate whether miscanthus is an option while for others availability will be the issue. Most of the stores are in the southeast. Transport costs to bring bales to the west or northwest may be an issue for some farmers trying to source the material.
Stores of miscanthus exist predominantly in the south-east of the country.
The comparative cost to bed the pen in straw for the month would be much more according to the farmer. If it was bedded with six 8x4x3 bales of straw it would cost €300 (6 bales x €50) at current prices.
However, with cattle bedded every day, John said a straw pen would get an additional 8x4x3 bale per week. This would mean an additional four bales which would bring the total cost for bedding with straw for the first month to €500. And this is not including the increased labour and time associated with bedding daily.
There is still very little experience of bedding with miscanthus, the initial impressions are promising.It was never intended to be used as bedding material for cattle when it was planted, but it could be a viable option for some farmers this year.
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