Scraping and liming cubicles is a chore that not many in farming circles look forward to doing. A ride-on cubicle bedder offers an attractive alternative to the tedious task.

The cubicle bedder works using a hydraulic rotating brush, that removes the manure that would be typically hand scraped. The benefit of this is that the dirt is fully removed and not just smeared across the cubicle mat.

There is usually a scraper about one metre in length attached to the bottom of the machine to scrape the removed manure off the slats as the machine moves along.

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The machine then spreads a dusting of lime on top of the freshly cleaned cubicle. This offers a better use of lime when compared to a bucket and shovel or a hand spreading, as no lime is wasted and there is a more even spread.

Ride-on cubicle bedder’s come in a range of sizes with different capacity lime hoppers. A 500l hopper is capable of bedding roughly 600 cubicles per fill.

Running costs are very minimal, with diesel costing around €1.10 for every 500 cubicles cleaned. In terms of service costs and new parts, farmers are reporting less than €100/year in costs.

Return of Investment

Recent research carried out by Teagasc found that cubicle bedders clocked the equivalent of two full weeks or 70 hours of work on the average dairy farm.

For comparison, if we took an average farm where it takes roughly one hour per cleaning or two hours in total per day, that’s 14 hours a week.

This includes filling buckets, moving cows, scraping and then liming. In a farm with cows housed for 16 weeks that’s a total of 224 hours per year.

In total that’s a saving of 154 hours per year with the cubicle bedding machine. If we take a labour cost of €20/hour that’s a saving of €3,080/year.

If we took out a combined cost of €200 for diesel and maintenance, we’re still left with a saving of €2,880/year on an average, not accounting for the lime saved or hardship on the farmer.

These machines are currently costing around €16,500 plus VAT. Excluding the VAT (as it can be reclaimed through the business), this machine will pay for itself in under six years.

Given that the machines are only ran during the housing period, they should be lasting longer than six years realistically.

My Rating

This is definitely another good investment idea for farms. I think the cubicle bedding machine is a no brainer for larger herds as it will have a much higher return on investment, paying for itself in three to four years.

It can also offer a big-time saver on smaller owner/operator farms where there’s no additional labour. Time is money, particularly on these types of farms where time freed up could be better placed in more important areas that require the farmers expertise.

Overall, the investment is getting a 3/5 from me. Most will say it’s not an essential investment and that’s a fair argument. However, when labour can be reduced and the misery of boring tasks can be saved, I’d be willing to lean in favour.