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Sand bedded free stalls may improve cow comfort and milk quality if properly managed. Inorganic bedding does not provide a favorable habitat for bacteria to grow. Sand laden manure can successfully be separated from the effluent using gravity scrape or flush systems. Recycling sand requires diluting the manure with water to cause the sand to separate from the solids and effluent. It cannot be recycled from a scrape system without a mechanical separator. The sand will separate from a flush stream when water velocity changes. In general, the more flush water passing over the settled sand, the cleaner the recycled sand will become prior to reuse as bedding. Nature daily transports sand from one location to another in stream channels. Experiences with sand laden manure are similar to observations in the stream channels. Sand deposits occur where there is a change in the cross-sectional area or channel slope. Observations reveal that many problems associated with flushing sand laden manure occur because sand naturally settles with a change in velocity. This paper focuses on experiences with flushing sand laden manure and gravity separation.