McLanahan Sand Separation System Helps Providence Farmstead Recycle Sand Bedding

Providence Farmstead is a family-owned business that has been operating for 30 years. Originally based in California, Providence Farmstead moved their dairy farm to Otto, N.C. in 2024. From their new site, the dairy farm aims to educate the public about the importance of cow health and comfort, and its connection to producing high quality dairy products.

“This dairy has 100 cows. We did that so that we could be able to showcase how we take care of our land, how we take care of our cows, and what a nutritiously dense product milk really is,” said C.A. Russell, owner of Providence Farmstead.

CHALLENGE

Having worked with dairy cows for 30 years, Russell has plenty of experience with cow care and comfort. During his time dairying in California, Russell used dried manure to bed his dairy cows.

However, dried manure also requires specific conditions and space to be effective.

Upon moving to North Carolina, Russell was faced with a challenge. The new farm’s limited space and new weather conditions meant Russell could no longer bed with dried manure.

“Trying to do compost here would have been tough because of the amount of moisture that we have. You can do it, but it takes up land, it takes up time, and it takes up equipment. And, you need to have that right mixture of carbon and moisture and everything else,” explained Russell.

Clean, dry bedding is a crucial part of producing good quality dairy products.

“Cow comfort is one of the most important things that we do as dairymen. Our cows are producing well, and the only way they’re going to do that is if we take good care of them,” Russell said.

With limited space and the need for a new kind of bedding, the dairy farm turned to McLanahan’s Sand Separation System to provide clean and reuseable bedding.

Russell said, “This is only 100 acres, so we had a limited footprint to work with.”

SOLUTION

Using McLanahan’s Sand Separation System, Providence Farmstead can ensure cow health and comfort while reusing and recycling.

Russell expressed the farm’s wish to utilize sand bedding during their time in California.

However, “The problem is sand is super hard on equipment. Unless you’ve got a way to take that out, you’ll be going through pumps pretty regularly,” Russell explained.

With McLanahan Sand Separation Systems, sand is separated from the manure stream for reuse, providing a clean and comfortable bedding for the cows while limiting wear and tear on the manure pumps.

This Sand Separation System was specifically designed for smaller dairies operating flush systems in a batch process. When planning the dairy facility, the engineering firm for the project recommended a McLanahan Sand Separation System to allow Providence Farmstead to bed with sand.

The sand-laden manure is flushed from the lanes into a reception pit, where it is agitated. The mixture is then pumped from the pit by a Sand-Laden Manure Pump to a Hydrocyclone. The Hydrocyclone separates the sand from the manure liquid. The wet sand drops into a Sand Washer and is transported through an auger to a Shaker Screen for further dewatering. The Sand Separation System removes a high portion of moisture from the sand, allowing for faster use.

RESULTS

Using the Sand Separation System, Providence Farmstead can reuse their sand, rather than purchasing new sand, saving money and aiding in sustainability efforts. Because the McLanahan Sand Separation System provides drip-free sand, the dairy can utilize the recycled sand bedding even faster.

“We have brought in only two loads of sand, outside of what we started with,” explained Russell. “We can bed right away with the sand that’s coming off the McLanahan Sand Separator.”

Providence Farmstead values sustainable practices to help take care of their land and their cows. The McLanahan Sand Separation System allows the dairy to reuse and recycle their bedding sand and manure fibers.

Not only has the McLanahan Sand Separation System provided Providence Farmstead with manure-free sand to bed with, but it also gives the farm sand-free manure to use as fertilizer on the Georgia farm.

“My favorite part about the McLanahan Sand Separator System is that it takes the sand out of our effluent and doesn’t wear on the pumps. And it also gives us a real stable bedding material for our cows,” Russell said.

Since the Sand Separation System is removing sand from the manure stream, the dairy is able to put sand-free manure fibers onto their fields as fertilizer and use the sand-free effluent as flush water.

“It can go back and recharge our 20,000-gallon flush tank, which will continue to reuse and reuse and reuse. It can flush out the sand flume lane at the end of the barn or it will go back to our storage.”

McLanahan’s Sand Separation System allows Providence Farmstead to recycle their sand, reducing their footprint and providing comfortable bedding for their dairy cows.

“We need to make [our cows] as comfortable as possible. Sand bedding is great,” Russell said. “The McLanahan Sand Separator System gives us the best bedding, and we get to recycle, we get to reuse, and we’re also reducing our footprint.”