Experience Mickaël Salles

The farm of Mickaël Salles in Le Châtellier, in the heart of Normandy, was the first in France to install Dreamstall free stalls in France. It was a well-considered choice to offer his cows optimal comfort and increase sustainability.

Until last autumn the 150 cows of the Salles family were housed on deep straw bedding. The farmers decided to convert the deep litter barn into a free stall barn. To achieve this, an 800 m2 barn was added which is connected with the existing barn. The farmer thought about the design for about three years. After much research, he finally opted for the Dreamstall free stall in combination with Friesian Island cow mattresses. 

The cows are now enjoying their new barn and comfortable beds. “I am surprised how quickly the cows lie down after they back out of the milking parlor,” says Salles enthusiastic. “Previously, the cows were standing much longer, sometimes for 3-4 hours. So far, we have not had any lame cows,” says the farmer who aims for a time of 60% that a cow spends lying down per day.

Previously, in the deep litter barn, the farmers always saw a drop in production at the beginning of the summer. Mickaël hopes that this will improve with the free stall barn. “In addition, our employee had two full days of work per week on maintenance and cleaning the deep litter barn, which is now only 2x 10 minutes per day with a self-propelled spreader with brush,” says the farmer satisfied. Straw consumption will also be much less now, which used to be around 400 tons of straw per year. “A huge cost saving,” says Mickaël. “We also save approximately 15 minutes per milking, because the cows are simply cleaner in the free stall barn than they were before. If it continues as it is now, I will sign up for it!”, says Mickaël Salles with satisfaction.