Flooring

Preparing for winter at Brigeen Farms, Castonguay Ayrshires

kimmi@agproud.com — Thu, 12 Dec 2024 00:00:00 -0500

While Maine is well known for lobster, lighthouses and its scenic North Atlantic coastline, the state is also home to 140 licensed dairy farms, including Brigeen Farms in Turner and Castonguay Ayrshires in Livermore. As the leaves fall and the crisp autumn air turns to icy conditions, snowstorms and frigid temperatures across the Northeast, cow comfort, herd health and safety are top of mind for these two dairy farms as they prepare their facilities and animals for inclement weather.

Designing concrete floors for dairy facilities to reduce lameness incidences

david.kammel@4dbarn.com — Fri, 17 Mar 2023 16:45:43 -0400

Lameness can affect anywhere between 8% to 55% of dairy cows worldwide. The contributing causes of lameness are poor cow comfort, long standing time, heat stress, poor stockmanship and poor flooring.

Concrete flooring for dairy cows

cag26@cornell.edu — Fri, 31 Mar 2017 13:00:01 -0400

Freestall barns are constructed to provide cows with shelter from winter winds and summer solar radiation. But beyond that, for cows to meet their genetic production potentials and for farms to maximize profitability, cow comfort is of utmost importance.

What you need to know about feet and floors in dairy facilities

Wed, 04 Nov 2015 19:25:11 -0500

The interaction between the foot of a dairy cow and the floor of the facility in which she is housed is one of the most important factors in an animal’s daily life, according to extension veterinarian and field investigator Ernest Hovingh of Penn State’s Department of Veterinary and Biomedical Sciences.

Worried about cow health? Look to your floor

Thu, 06 Nov 2014 07:00:00 -0500

Dairy cows can spend their entire lives walking on concrete, and that’s why Jacob Gerlach says proper floor surfacing is key to hoof health. Gerlach grew up around dairy farms, helping his father with A.I. and learning dairy practices from vets, nutritionists and farmers. He is currently the public relations manager for TrakRite, a company that provides concrete grooving, milling and texturing for dairy barns.

Is lime buildup to blame for slick barn floors?

tom@agritraction.com — Mon, 24 Feb 2014 07:00:00 -0500

Spreading hydrated lime where cows lay has been a common practice in the battle against mastitis since the 1940s. This form of disinfecting and drying the area below the bedding barrier to protect teats and udders from pathogens worked very well in a 1960s-style tiestall barn.

Safety risk areas in the barn and milking parlor

Fri, 17 Sep 2010 15:16:36 -0400

Slips, trips and falls. These are the most common source of injuries in the workplace and make up the greatest number of workers’ compensation claims. Serious injuries include sprains and strains. Water or milk spills, algal build-up on concrete surfaces, oil spills in machine shop buildings, wet feed and manure can all make a surface slippery.

The better way to get traction

Thu, 24 Jul 2008 14:03:30 -0400

Thirty years of standing over an air-hammer breaking out perfectly good dairy barn floors because the top eighth-of-an-inch on the surface is wrong gives someone a lot of time to think, “There has to be a better way!” Is it possible to install a floor texture to give livestock good traction without costing a lot of money, not creating problems with falls (too smooth) or hoof wear (too rough)? The answer is yes!