Slats

[Greenasgrass]

Thanks thats good to know, everyone says thee same so i think they will be essential.

I have one shed down 6 years and they are like new other than where my young fella got carried away with the power hose!
My mate has had to replace large sections of his slat mats in the same period (Easyfix I think). I keep stores up to 700kg but he has cows up to 1000kg so maybe this is the problem. I have a large pen where I have a mixing point - only 2/3 has mats - when cattle are lying down they are all squeezed on top of the mats and where there are no mats there are no cattle. They seem very slippy to walk on but the cattle have no problems.

 

[Hilly]

I have one shed down 6 years and they are like new other than where my young fella got carried away with the power hose!
My mate has had to replace large sections of his slat mats in the same period (Easyfix I think) in the same period. I keep stores up to 700kg but he has cows up to 1000kg so maybe this is the problem. I have a large pen where I have a mixing point - only 2/3 has mats - when cattle are lying down they are all squeezed on top of the mats and where there are no mats there are no cattle. They seem very slippy to walk on but the cattle have no problems.

Thanks, i like a bit of hands on type advice its better than salesman pish.

 

[davedb]

The gap between the bars in a gang slat are only about 40mm so I doubt you could get anything strong enough to use as a paddle that would fit through the gap. We used a paddle mixer for years, but you had to lift off a single slat each time to allow the paddle into the tank. Did a good enough job of mixing though.

The one my mate has is only very thin you’d hardly think it would work to look at it but it does a good job of getting it moving in the middle

 

[hillman]

Thinking of going with these if I do my project , rubber inserts guaranteed for 5 yrs used a lot in dairy houses on the continent

 

[Greenasgrass]

View attachment 720022

Thinking of going with these if I do my project , rubber inserts guaranteed for 5 yrs used a lot in dairy houses on the continent[/QUOTE

View attachment 720022

Thinking of going with these if I do my project , rubber inserts guaranteed for 5 yrs used a lot in dairy houses on the continent

i can see how the inserts would improve grip but would they improve cattle comfort much with 50% of the surface area still concrete?

 

[Half Pipe]

View attachment 720022

Thinking of going with these if I do my project , rubber inserts guaranteed for 5 yrs used a lot in dairy houses on the continent

What are those slats like if rubber is removed?
Just thinking what happens if rubber does fail, even in 10 yrs.
Do they have to be replaced or can they be used as concrete only?

 

[Mrs Brown]

I wouldn't even like to ask how much they would cost

 

[Stw88]

I wouldn't even like to ask how much they would cost

Acually works out cheaper than normal slats then putting mats on. I priced them 2 years ago. Just went for normal slats but its going to cost 8k to put comfort mats on now.

 

[hillman]

What are those slats like if rubber is removed?
Just thinking what happens if rubber does fail, even in 10 yrs.
Do they have to be replaced or can they be used as concrete only?

They have to be replaced as the slats are shaped to take them the rubber that is , at 10yrs of age certain slats could be nearing there end of life regardless of type at least easier to monitor slat condition

i can see how the inserts would improve grip but would they improve cattle comfort much with 50% of the surface area still concrete?

The top of them are very smooth and when your standing on them it feels the rubber part is more noticeable than the concrete and when you visually look at them the rubber out sizes the concrete

I wouldn't even like to ask how much they would cost

Comfort mats are 100€ a slat width , on doing quotes for the 2 about 3/4 the price of normal slats and rubber

 

[marco]

ya but the thing is you can do a bay at a time with mats. once you have everything else sorted and paid for.

 

[Dave6170]

Went to sac on farm meeting today. I learnt that the average profit is £35/cow before sub and a new slatted building costs from £2000 -3000/cow

 

[jamesy]

Went to sac on farm meeting today. I learnt that the average profit is £35/cow before sub and a new slatted building costs from £2000 -3000/cow

Thing is, the savings in straw over say 20 year lifespan of shed (ours is 27ish and ive started replacing slats) would pay for the slatted building that's at an average price of straw for last 5 years - if you can get it! What will the cost/opportunity cost be in 20 years for the straw? It does bring a tear to my eye every time I roll a bale out for the cows to sh!t on!!

 

[Dave6170]

You need a lot of faith in the future beef industry to invest that much money.

 

[Hilly]

You need a lot of faith in the future beef industry to invest that much money.

My future job is going to cost me 600 a cow and im wondering if thats worth it now, 2-3k for suckler is brave very brave today with politics etc.

 

[Dave6170]

@jamesy it was a lady from your sac office that did the presentation today about slats and costings. I could maybe get the slides emailed to me. Was an eye-opener!

 

[jamesy]

Aye they’re dear alright, heard £2k/ft mentioned not so long ago which would put it circa £2.5k/cow

 

[jamesy]

If funds allow I’d like to put a tank in an existing byre this summer..... funds probably won’t allow though!

 

[Dave6170]

If funds allow I’d like to put a tank in an existing byre this summer..... funds probably won’t allow though!

You could apply for an aecs grant.

 

[jamesy]

You could apply for an aecs grant.

Is there one available? There wasn’t last I checked. To be honest I’m not sure you actually save much using the grant, but I will check!!

 

[Dave6170]

You can get it for a tank then put a shed on top later.