The bedding material used in barns for dairy cows has a significant effect on animal welfare and performance. Bedding influences the duration in which animals remain lying down and, consequently, the processes of rumination and milk production. It is crucial to have a complete understanding of the properties of bedding materials and the effects of alternative bedding materials on dairy cattle. This paper aims to evaluate the physical, chemical, and biological properties of various alternative and conventional bedding materials for dairy cattle for use in compost bedded pack or freestall barn systems. We analyzed 50 samples of 17 bedding materials produced in 3 European countries. We analyzed physical properties including the water holding capacity, porosity, moisture content, bulk density, dry bulk density, and particle size. Chemical analyses were performed to determine the total N, total organic C, and C:N ratio. In the biological analyses, the Escherichia coli count, total bacteria count, coliform count, and Klebsiella spp. count were assessed. The results demonstrated how the physical properties of the bedding materials may influence the chemical and biological properties. All of the materials presented adequate chemical properties to be used as bedding material. The physical properties of the bedding materials differed widely among the materials except for the dry bulk density, which presented no difference. Moreover, the contamination of each studied microorganism was observed for each bedding material to determine which material had the lowest level of contamination. Posidonia oceanica, Miscanthus grass, and spelt husks could be considered as a potential alternative material for use as bedding material for dairy cows in both systems (i.e., composted bedded pack and freestall). This experiment illustrated the importance of performing thorough physical, chemical, and biological analyses before implementing a material as bedding for dairy cattle.

用于奶牛舍的垫层材料对动物的福利和生产性能具有重大影响。床上用品会影响动物躺下的时间，进而影响反刍和产奶的过程。全面了解床上用品的性能以及替代床上用品对奶牛的影响至关重要。本文旨在评估用于堆肥床上包装或速冻牛舍系统的奶牛的各种替代和常规垫料的物理，化学和生物学特性。我们分析了在3个欧洲国家/地区生产的17种床上用品的50个样品。我们分析了物理性质，包括持水量，孔隙率，水分含量，堆积密度，干堆积密度和粒度。进行化学分析以确定总氮，总有机碳和C：N比。在生物学分析中，大肠杆菌计数，细菌总数，大肠菌群计数和克雷伯菌属。计数进行了评估。结果表明，寝具材料的物理性质如何影响化学和生物学性质。所有的材料都具有足够的化学性质，可以用作垫料。除了干体积密度外，床上用品的物理特性在各种材料中差异很大，没有差异。而且，对于每种垫料观察每种研究微生物的污染，以确定哪种材料具有最低的污染水平。Posidonia oceanica，Miscanthus在这两个系统中（例如，堆肥的卧式包装和速冻箱），草和拼写的果壳都可以用作奶牛床上用品的潜在替代材料。该实验说明了在将材料用作奶牛垫料之前进行彻底的物理，化学和生物学分析的重要性。