Apart from milking and feeding, spreading of litter in the cubicle houses is the third important column in daily work on dairy farms. A high-yield cow requires up to 2 kg of litter every day, which means more than 6 t / month on a farm with 100 cows.

In practice, the litter for the cows is spread manually or by means of special spreading devices which are not able to mix, though. If various litter substrates such as straw, peat, sawdust, horse dung and lime are used nowadays, they are usually mixed in the fodder mixing wagon and then distributed in the stable manually or by means of a spreading device.

Strautmann has therefore designed the so-called litter spreading drum. It is mounted next to the crossover conveyor of the mixing wagon and can be swivelled. The mixing wagon can thus be used both for feeding (litter spreading drum swivelled down) and for spreading litter (litter spreading drum swivelled up), without the user being forced to compromise for one of these two working procedures.

The speed of the hydraulically powered litter spreading drum is variable which enables different spreading widths of up to 8 m for most various litter materials  without formation of dust, as the litter is not blown but only thrown. A fodder mixing wagon equipped with a litter spreading drum therefore allows the distribution of litter in a double row of cubicles from one side during one passage through the stable. Spreading litter in each single row of cubicles required so far by the solutions using special litter spreading devices is no longer necessary.

The Strautmann fodder mixing wagons of the Verti-Mix and Verti-Mix Double series equipped with a crossover conveyor discharge can, of course, be retrofitted with the litter spreading drum.

On dairy farms with a stable accessible by vehicles (slatted floor accessible by vehicles or continuous solid surface), supplementing a fodder mixing wagon by adding a litter spreading drum is the only option to mix and discharge the required litter with one single machine.

The use of prototypes in various practical enterprises has reduced the time required for spreading litter by 60%.

The great time advantage is mainly due to the fact that it is not necessary to discharge the mixed litter in front of the stable before using another technology to distribute it in the stable, but that it can be directly distributed in the cubicles from the mixing wagon.

Due to this fact, the physical effort required by the litter spreading procedure is considerably reduced, compared to any other solutions used so far, as complete work steps can be dropped: interim discharge and recharge as well as the exact distribution in the cubicle are no longer necessary.

Manual work is no longer required, as the speed of the litter spreading drum is variable which enables easy distribution of the mixed litter from the tractor's seat over the whole cubicle depth.

The cows appreciate a well-littered cubicle by a better lying behaviour (they rather prefer lying down in a comfortable cubicle) and an improved udder health (cubicle material in perfect hygienic condition), and all this with much less work and reduced physical stress for the user.

The Strautmann litter spreading drum therefore represents an ideal option for the future-oriented dairy farm willing to grow for spreading most various litter substrates for its animals quickly, with little manual work and at low costs, and all that using a machine which is available on its farm anyway - the fodder mixing wagon.