The use of bedding material is an essential part of efficient livestock management, fostering a comfortable and healthy living environment by controlling dust, absorbing moisture, managing manure, moderating temperature swings. Expanded perlite possesses physical and chemical properties that can ensure desirable bedding conditions for livestock.
Perlite is Absorbent. Perlite possesses exceptional absorption capacity that can reach up to six times its weight.
Perlite is Insulative. With a thermal conductivity of 0.04 to 0.06 W/mK, its use as bedding will both heal losses and reduce temperature fluctuations.
Perlite is Natural Insecticide. Perlite kills insects by physical obstruction of respiration and by disruption of lipid layer of insect’s cuticle leading to desiccation.
Perlite is Sterile. The expansion processes involves a thermal treatment at temperatures over 1000°C.
Bedding for Poultry Farms
Using expanded perlite for bedding in poultry houses have several benefits—preventing health problems (like footpad dermatitis), controlling moisture (mitigating growth of harmful microorganisms and maintaining hygienic conditions as well as reducing flies and odors), managing manure, providing a nesting substrate, and assisting in temperature regulation.
For example, expanded perlite bedding deals effectively with the muck that develops on the coop or poultry house floor, typically a combination of wet manure and watering station spillage, perhaps poor ventilation as well. Drying the muck—and then preventing more—disrupts the life cycle of fast-breeding insects like the housefly, which thrive in nutrient-rich organic material like poultry-house muck. Perlite’s moisture-control benefit attacks the fly problem at its root—wrecking the egg, larvae, and pupa stages, thus greatly reducing fly infestation.
Bedding for Dairy Cattle
Bedding material fulfills several crucial functions that improve the animals’ general health, happiness, and productivity. Dairy cattle need bedding material for comfort, which encourages natural resting behaviors and natural activities in cattle—lying down, grooming, and socializing.
The use of perlite bedding material improves cleanliness and hygienic conditions by reducing moisture from sources such as excrement and urine, leading to a significant reduction in bacteria population and growth, which mitigates odor and the risk of disease.
Mastitis can be prevented with the proper use of bedding. High-quality bedding also has an impact on cattle’s ability to maintain healthy feet, helping prevent issues like hoof rot and lameness. Bedding also helps keep dairy cows’ udders and teats clean, reducing the risk of contamination during the milking process.
Another benefit is increased reproductive performance—animal well-being promotes reproductive outcomes, favoring conception rates, mating behavior, and estrus expression.
A case study using expanded perlite as bedding for a dairy herd is available in the document download below.
