Manure Management Made Easy

Reduce Handling, Equipment, & Labor Costs

With a lighter top bedding material and less top bedding than other systems, DCC Waterbeds help create a manure stream that flows easily and works with all types of manure handling technologies. And, by getting rid of sand, the entire manure system can last longer, perform better, and requires less maintenance.

Cost savings over sand

Handling sand-laden manure as it goes out of the manure system has a premium cost of $.01 to $.025 per gallon. That adds up! On a 500 cow dairy, you can see a manure hauling cost per year of $5,000 to $12,500 more than on DCC Waterbeds – and that doesn’t count parts, labor, and headache.

Out to the fields quickly

“The manure, it used to go with sand, into the lagoon. And the lagoon used to fill up with sand. We’d have to move the pump after every couple of loads to try and pump clean manure out, but it would get in the pump and the lagoon spreader tank. Then we had to get an agitator. The sand wore our pumps out, it wore our spreader tank out, it wore out the agitator. Now, it’s a no-brainer. We just pump out the manure and spread it; it’s simple.”

- Kalvin Imhoff, Goshen, Indiana || 85 DCC Waterbeds

Easy on pumps

“Generally, you change out the seals in the transfer pumps for the manure every year, but we were having to do it every three of four months [with sand], and we could burn out a $3,000 pump in less than a year’s time. The sand was getting tracked into the parlor and it just gets into everything causing damage. Once a year we used to have to scrape solids out, and I don’t think I’ll have to do that again. It’s going to save us some time and money in the long run for sure.”

- Jason Esser, Montfort, Wisconsin // 200 DCC Waterbeds

Less time, less hauling, less maintenance

“Manure hauling is much easier. Now we have drops from the scrapers to the reception pit that are pumped into the large pit. Now we have our barn cleaned six times a day with the automatic scrapers. We don't have near the time on the skid loader, either. Part of having sand was being in there disrupting the cows with the skid loader, cleaning and leveling, all the time. Now we just put in shavings with a side shooter once a week and scrape the ends every day when we get the cows into milk.”

- Keith Schulte, Dorchester, Iowa // 216 DCC Waterbeds

Less is more

“Before, we were bedding two times a week, using a sawdust side shooter, using 16 buckets total. Now we use four buckets of sawdust once a week. We cut it down about 80 percent. Also it’s less time, less wear on equipment, less manure handling. The manure flows better. Less is better, that’s less expense everywhere.

- Sam Goering, Dayton, Virginia // 176 DCC Waterbeds

“With just 180 cows we spent an hour every day unplugging sawdust from the manure stream with a fire hose. Now, with 280 cows and about 40 pregnant heifers, we never have to use the hose because there is hardly any sawdust in the system.”

Cor & Cathy Haagsma, Ponoka, Alberta // 300 DCC Waterbeds topped with sawdust