In this video Mal from Biome Connect talks to Co Antrim Dairy farmer David Cargill about how he reduced the mastitis cases in his herd from 4-5 a month down to two cases in four months by switching from using lime to Vulkamin antiseptic bedding powder.
Vulkamin 100% Natural Antiseptic Bedding Powder
Vulkamin is a finely ground rock silicate from volcanoes. It contains large quantities of minerals and trace elements that will improve hygiene in cubicles, birthing pens, stables and even kennels.
The key feature is that it is able to increase pH sharply killing off harmful bacteria, while still being safe for human and animal. Vulkamin is extremely absorbent; it binds ammonium from the manure meaning it retains Nitrogen as NH3 gas, when it ends up in the slurry or the FYM, you will have less of the greenhouse gas, ammonium nitrate, being released and instead kept as a valuable nutrient for your soil instead.
As it doesn’t react with anything, it is able to dry out and reabsorb, making it more effective for longer periods and saving you on bedding costs.
Vulkamin is also a much more eco-friendly product than lime.
Benefits include
- Fast drying capacity
- Natural disinfectant by raising pH suppressing harmful bacteria
- Improves and maintains bedding hygiene
- Gentle on hands and teats
- Minimal loss of Nitrogen
- Reduced risk of mastitis
Find out more here : ANIMAL HUSBANDRY
MAL HUGHES & DAVID CARGILL VULKAMIN VIDEO TRANSCRIPT
Mal:
We’re here today with David Cargill he decided to switch over from a lime based product to our product Vulkamin
We just want to talk about some of the advantages and how David is getting on with the product himself.
David:
We started off using lime disinfectant on the cubicles, we’ve been using it a long long time and we sort of know the effects that is has
We did notice a wee bit of burning on the teats, that was sort of one of the reasons we stopped then.
We looked at different products on the market and we did move to an alternative disinfectant but it was very costly,
we were only using it a couple of times a week on the cubicles alongside parasitic acids just to give us peace of mind
Back about October time we moved over to talking to Mal about the products he has.
We were primarily interested in the Actiferm for slurry based products for capturing the ammonium and that’s dropping that in the slurry and enhancing the nitrogen content within in the slurry as well as all the disinfectant properties that the other disinfectants had.
We never had a major issue with mastitis on the farm but in the last three four months using the product we’ve only had a couple of cases and that’s it, its remarkable.
We’ve got a significant amount of trust in the product now and we use it throughout the farm calf pens and cubicles throughout, cubicles in the heifer house
And I think the big thing for us is its a significant cost reduction over other products with major benefits.
from a disinfection point of view, treating the slurry point of view also binding the extra nitrogen in the slurry,
Mal:
Yes then you have the macro/micro nutrients that are actually going down into the soil and taken out on to the land
So what that’s doing is helping with your circular economy through the farming system, it all adds up together.
So we’re here within the cubicle area itself and you can see yourself how dry it is, David you have mentioned about how your cell counts were keeping very steady throughout the time you’ve been using Vulkamin, can you tell us a bit more about that.
David
Were working with about 140 at the minute and probably would have had about maybe 3,4,5 cases of mastitis a month.
Cell counts were at 170 or 180 or so, since we’ve been using Vulkamin for the last few of months the cell count is down to about 110-120 and this year so far we’ve only had one case of mastitis and its now mid February
four months and we’ve only had one case of mastitis at the tail end of last year so that’s four months and we’ve only has 2 cases of mastitis
Mal: yes that’s a big improvement
David:
You do see in the beds there, the bed lies very dry, its not dusty, the Vulkamin nearly sticks a bit to the sawdust which makes it a bit, its the absorbency as well
Mal: Its the fact that the Vulkamin can dry out and reabsorb
other advantage of it is that you can use so little of it.
David: So any sort of moisture around the edge of the cubicles or any bit of leaked milk or anything, its not nearly as significant as what it used to be and obviously the way the Vulkamin reacts to the moisture that’s killing the bacteria in a very rapid time.
Mal: Yeah and see that PH reading that happens when the moisture hits the Vulkamin that’s a huge benefit in killing the bacteria as well.
Its not an overstocked house by any means but if a cow’s lying and leaks a bit of milk and another cow lies down on top of it then I’m not really that concerned because I know the Vulkmin’s done its job, its sterilised the beds.