Sand cubicles
- Thread starter The dude
- Start date
- Location
- South West
I used preformed sand kerbs from Pages concrete @ Crediton, Devon . You simply pour your scrap passages around 300-500mm wider each side of scrap passages and string line a straight edge and place the kerbs onto a resin glue line and slide them together so the locking pegs interlink 2 together and square and turbo bolt in place. Kerbs 3 metres long and is really quick and easy to do.
Just google “Sand Kerbs”
Just google “Sand Kerbs”
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frederick
Member
- Location
- south west
Made concrete base as normal that could take a mat in the future. Then fix a 4 by 3 timber at the back to hold in sand.
That's brilliant thank you very much.all the guys who try to sell mats of course are totally again sand but in America especially sand is the big thing for comfort. I see u mentioned Devon in your message.my wife is from there and her parents still farm just outside yeovil
Thanks very much. In our original cow house we have half mats and half mattress.just very keen to try sand although it's not common were I'm from
- Location
- South West
No problem . Cows really love sand as really nest into it well
deleted user 837354
Member
Need to consider how you will scrape and handle slurry each day and how you clean off the beds etc. These will have a bearing on how well sand would work for you. Lots of places use saw dust and although it is pricey it is great because the volumes used are modest.
- Location
- Out in the Sticks
For our old fashioned earth beds, we just rawbolted a sleeper to the concrete passage way.
Much easier and kinder on cows than a concrete edge.
I have a couple that were in the way of where cubicles went.
I warned some else who was putting in a new setup....but they still had posts in the way
Much easier and kinder on cows than a concrete edge.
Just watch where you are concreting the posts for the cubicles to.
I have a couple that were in the way of where cubicles went.
I warned some else who was putting in a new setup....but they still had posts in the way
- Location
- S E Wales
We used kerbs saved out of tippings from roadworks and cemented down each side of the scraper passage
Farmer_1994
Member
- Location
- Oakbank, Manitoba, Canada
We use sand, really need to consider your manure handling. Sand is great for cow comfort, but any gains you get can be lost as soon as they kick it out of the stall. Bedding up takes longer, sand is hard on equipment; we get about 1/3 life out of pumps and scraper blades as straw or sawdust bedded barns, it does not flow well in channels without a circulation pump. We have kept on with it as it’s the only bedding that works in our barn.
We have looked at a lot of sand separating systems and hands down a sand lane is the cheapest and most effective way to separate sand. We are looking at building one in the next year to recycle our sand which will cut down on bedding costs a lot.
We have looked at a lot of sand separating systems and hands down a sand lane is the cheapest and most effective way to separate sand. We are looking at building one in the next year to recycle our sand which will cut down on bedding costs a lot.
- Location
- South West
Kerbs are moulded with rounded corners so nothing sharp to hurt cows or damage feet and it’s a very smooth concrete with almost a glass finish unlike ready mix concrete and never seen cows stand on them like older concrete floor cubicles where some cows will stand with only front feet on them for ages at times
Ducati899
Member
- Location
- north dorset
I’ve just put sand in our old cubicles that we use for bulling/in calf heifers,usually get one or two that take some persuading to lie up in them most winters but this time everyone led up on the first night,might just be coincidence though. I’d say they look so much more comfy now than when I bedded them on straw,if it wasn’t so hard to deal with the sand then I’d consider bedding the dairy on it as well
Moorlands
Member
- Location
- West yorkshire
Hi we concreted our passage an extra 200mm wide put short pieces of reinforcement bar in the kerb line we then used scaffold aboard some one sat on the edge of the concretewith long pegs to hold it and the other sat 150mm away with pieces of 150mm angle bolted down in passage to hold in place the filled with concrete tapped along with lump hammer to get rid of air pockets and used an edging trowel along top edges so it didn’t leave sharp edges.
The first beds we did we put easy honey comb mats in to save sand but don’t rate them as sand goes a bit grim in honeycomb that doesn’t get moved, and quite a few have risen up out of the bed as nothing holds them down.
Since then we have put Wilson pasture mats in with 2-3 inch of sand on top and makes a really nice bed with low sand usage.
i’ll take some pictures tomorrow.
Ack that would be brilliant thank you very much I really appreciate that.il take a few pics were there going.were are u from yourself
Couple of simple solutions:
To make kerb on flat concrete, you can put a pre-cast beam on the floor, drill through it into the floor, and beat some reinforcing bar through.
To handle slurry, a telehandler mounted scraper is hugely beneficial. Check out Mensch.
Note, if you have some beds that are sand, and some that are not, there is a fair risk that cattle will prefer one bed type over another, and could cause distorted stocking density in the prefered beds.
CB
To make kerb on flat concrete, you can put a pre-cast beam on the floor, drill through it into the floor, and beat some reinforcing bar through.
To handle slurry, a telehandler mounted scraper is hugely beneficial. Check out Mensch.
Note, if you have some beds that are sand, and some that are not, there is a fair risk that cattle will prefer one bed type over another, and could cause distorted stocking density in the prefered beds.
CB
Moorlands
Member
- Location
- West yorkshire
This is ours been on sand 2 years and loving it.
Regards machinery and sand wearing things I think key is keeping things simple.
I’ll second the mensch tyre scraper for loader.
Regards machinery and sand wearing things I think key is keeping things simple.
I’ll second the mensch tyre scraper for loader.
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That looks brilliant. Tell ya 1 thing that has made my mind up.a guy from Wilson's told me the other day I was mad thinking of sand.of course he wanted to sell me a mattress instead.he said I'd use 11 ton of sand per year at 14 pound per tonne so 157 pound per cow per year.that seemed mental high to me what do u think