Which floor is best for cows?

Slatted floors, solid floors, low-emission floors; they come in all shapes and sizes, but which one is best for cows? Each farmer decides the answer according to their personal circumstances, as there are advantages and disadvantages to every floor. Whatever type of floor, there is one thing you do have to be sure of: that your floor is properly cleaned. Desie Verhoeven, sales advisor at ESL-agri, explains what farmers should pay attention to in order to keep their barn floors clean.

What manure cleaning solution should you choose?

‘A scraper solution is available for every barn floor, which could be a fixed manure scraper or a manure robot,’ says Desie. ‘Which system is best for your circumstances depends on your answer to various questions.’ We’ve listed them for you:

* What type of floor do you have?
* What type of bedding do you use?
* How big is your barn, manure alley, etc.?
* Do you have a waiting area, intersecting passages or a separation area?
* Are there alleys with differences in levels or thresholds in your barn?
* How much do cows move around in the barn?
* What routes do cows follow in the barn?
* How humid is it?
* Do you have places to discharge manure?
* How high are your gates?
* Do you have space for a charging station?

And so on. As you can see, there are quite a few aspects which affect the best scraping solution for you. ‘In general, you can assume that a manure scraper is the best solution if you just want your manure alley to be scraped often and properly,’ Desie explains. ‘If you want to clean the floors of other areas, you’re generally better off with a manure robot.  This is because manure robots are more flexible than manure scrapers.’

JOZ-Tech Manure Robot

Take the JOZ-Tech, for example. If you have a slatted floor or low-emission floor, this robot could well be the best solution for your barn. ‘This is particularly true if the scraper has to cope with uneven alleys because of a barn extension, or if, for example, you also want to have a waiting area, intersecting passage or other areas scraped clean,’ says Desie. ‘Moreover, a manure robot can cope with obstacles in a barn.’

‘The JOZ-Tech relies on transponder technology to determine its route, which means you can set different routes. The manure robot also makes very little noise when operating, which minimises any disturbance to cow movements. We can also monitor the machine remotely, which is useful if there’s a malfunction. At ESL, we can be reached by phone 7 days a week for support, which many farmers think is a great idea.’

Barn-E manure robot

‘The advantages of the JOZ-Tech also apply to JOZ’s latest manure robot: the Barn-E,’ Desie continues. ‘Except the Barn-E is perfect for solid floors,  such as element floors or rubber floors.’

‘Instead of scraping manure forwards, the Barn-E picks it up and drives the collected manure to the discharge point. If you want to use this machine, you will need a discharge point. This machine can process large quantities of manure up to 370 to 500 litres, depending on the scraping width, which is a lot.’

Maintenance tips

Desie has various tips on how to properly maintain your manure robot. ‘Because the better you maintain it, the more satisfaction it gives,’ she explains. ‘It reduces the number of problems you have to deal with, and extends your machine’s service life. Maintenance jobs incude regularly cleaning the charging contacts and the charging station, cleaning the charging strips with a wire brush or sandpaper, checking that the water filter isn’t clogged, and making sure your robot is serviced every year. This will allow you to get the most out of your machine.´’

So: which floor is best for cows?

The answer: a clean floor! And to get a clean floor, it’s important to choose the right scraping solution. Making the right choice is a skill in itself, which is why we always recommend that you get good advice from a dealer near you.