Sloping Floor Gradient

[sheepwise]

Busy ripping out old cubicles and tie stalls from an old dairy byre with intention of putting in sloping floors. We are quite lucky in that we already have a slatted tank up the centre passage and aiming to slope floors towards the central tank on both sides. I'm thinking that within reason the steeper the floors the better to encourage the cows to lie with their heads up the hill and keep the slopes clean. The current beds are 8' long. Any advice? TIA.

 

[Sharpy]

Ours are 1 in 12 I think, 6'9" long.

 

[Old Tip]

Same here, one in twelve, where will they feed

 

[sheepwise]

Same here, one in twelve, where will they feed

Will feed at barrier outside shed, also on slats.

 

[sheepwise]

Ours are 1 in 12 I think, 6'9" long.

Should I put in a kerb or have bottom of slope flush with top of slats?

 

[Ballacrye]

Should I put in a kerb or have bottom of slope flush with top of slats?

Id favour a kerb just to give you definition between bed and slats. thats my opinion though.

 

[Old Tip]

Will feed at barrier outside shed, also on slats.

It’s better if they feed at the top of the slope as they then trample the straw and muck to the centre

 

[sheepwise]

It’s better if they feed at the top of the slope as they then trample the straw and muck to the centre

Hoping to put cubicle mats on the slope and not use any bedding.

 

[Agrivator]

Someone from Orkney will be along soon.

 

[jamesy]

Just passing through

 

[Sharpy]

Hoping to put cubicle mats on the slope and not use any bedding.

We put conveyor belting on ours, got very slippy after 2 or 3 days, took them out before a cow broke a leg.

 

[Kiwi Pete]

Our sloping floor is 1 in 11, I measured it when @Old Tip was looking at sloping floors.
I wouldn't want it any flatter as it works really well as is

 

[sheepwise]

We put conveyor belting on ours, got very slippy after 2 or 3 days, took them out before a cow broke a leg.

Have the mats here that were in the cubicles/stalls we took out. There still in pretty good nick and have more grip than belting we have used in past.

 

[sheepwise]

Our sloping floor is 1 in 11, I measured it when @Old Tip was looking at sloping floors.
I wouldn't want it any flatter as it works really well as is

How much steeper could you go and still have cows choosing to lie on it instead of slatted passage?

 

[Kiwi Pete]

How much steeper could you go and still have cows choosing to lie on it instead of slatted passage?

A good question, probably one in ten?
This is the only housing for beef cattle I have ever seen, TBH. They do seem to work muck very quickly down the slope without having to have them squirting to do so - we just feed ad-lib finechop silage so their dung is pretty firm. It's just got an 11 inch nib and then straight onto compost, no slats unfortunately. I would love to make a proper dung channel just beyond the nib to catch anything they track over it - fulltime work means sometimes scraping isn't always as often as I'd do if I was hovering.