Barn Floors For Cattle
Here s a look at the types of flooring found in horse s stables.
Barn floors for cattle. At a minimum floors for dairy cattle need to provide a flat surface that uniformly supports cows weight. Farmtek offers mats are ideal for horse stalls dairy free stalls trailers work stations tack and feed rooms wash racks and barn aisles and entryways. Build your cattle building with hanson s robotic feeding and save even more hours. We have mats to increase productivity keep animals warm and dry and improve animal comfort.
Concrete is attractive to use because it is durable economical relatively easy to place conforms to irregular areas well and can be finished in various ways to provide some level of traction to dairy cows. Additionally floors must provide confident footing for the cow so she can navigate around the barn without worrying about slipping and possibly going. That comes from a poorly designed barn. The easiest pole barn flooring option is dirt.
By far the most prevalent flooring surface in new and older barns alike is cast in place concrete. My floors are tipped 1 inch for every 12 feet so urine runs right off to a collection area beside my barn. Lidingo wikimedia commons cc by sa 3 0. Barn flooring is the foundation of a clean and safe barn.
Since a pole barn s only foundation requirements are in the footers for the poles the central dirt inside can be left alone. Using the feeding of 1 000 head of cattle for an example that equates to 280 hours of labor in a dirt lot setting 380 hours of labor in a confinement with a bed packed floor and only 140 hours of labor per year in a confinement with slatted floors. This keeps bedding drier and more sanitary without doing a thing. This way even pressure is exerted over the entire bearing surface of a cow s hoof.
Flooring needs to have good traction so that horses and their handlers don t slip and fall. The most popular options for pole barn flooring dirt. Stone can look modern or rustic in a barn application and comes in a variety of styles sizes and colors. Use stone floors in a residential pole barn structure too.
But the smell of urine and manure is not from concrete. Livestock mats and flooring. Since barns are constantly exposed to the mess that goes along with horses including manure dirt and hair the floors need to be easy to keep clean. For several types of barns this is the ideal solution when it comes to pole barn floors.
Soil sand or clay.