Dangerously slippy slats-Help

Craggy Island

Hi all,
I have a problem with very slippy slats in my cubicle house. The slats aren't damaged or anything. They're in for maybe 15 years. The surface is gone very smooth. Cows slip sliding all over the place when battling for feed space when I put in silage, or when cows simply reverse down off a cubicle, the two back legs can go backwards from under them. This has been even more of a problem with due/ freshly calved cows as they're more vulnerable. My vet even commented on how slippy the slats were.
Anyone know or have experience of shotblasting slats to overcome this ?. I don't want to get them grooved as it would damage the slat edge and maybe weaken them.
I need to get them sorted before calving ( as I should have done for the last 3 or 4 years). Any advice or opinions appreciated. Thanks,
Craggy.

barryoc1

Have you thought about slat mats? Perhaps not an option due to cost. Another solution may be to randomly give them a rub of an angle grinder. Just to put a little groove just a few millimeters into them.

pakalasa

Unless you get good reliable advice, I would be careful grooving them as this will weaken the slats like you said.

cjpm

Could you power wash and scud them?? as in scudding to a wall being plastered.

One part Cement to one part sand i think. Plenty of water, and flick it on with a trowel. Would take a day to stick tho or cows hooves would blow it off.

Craggy Island

I had thought about slat mats briefly and apart from the cost, It's dairy cows I have and It's hard enough to limit the # of them lying on the slats as it is. Obviously it would solve the slipping problem though, possibly more of a risk of cows teats being stood on.
Without a deep or wide cut with an angle grinder I don't think it'd be effective enough.
The scudding with cement sounds promising, get someone who knows what they are doing. I just need it to be grippy ( and be able to scrape it by hand too ) but priority is not having them slip.
Do any of you have any experience of sandblasting ?. I know it can be used to rough or groove a surface. Scudding is the cheapest solution so far.

reilig

Scudding on slats would be hard on hooves. I know a guy who got new slats and they had a load of little bits of concrete stuck to them - similar to scudding and he had a lot of hoofcare problems because of it. Personally I wouldn't have accepted the slats in the first place if they were like his. He had to go back to the manufacturers and they came out and plained off the rough bits to make them smooth again. If your slats come with a 20 year guarantee - like most do, then you will invalidate this guarantee by cutting grooves in them.

Sorry, I have no ideal solution, but I'm sure there is something out there that will help.

vanderbadger

sorry to go off topic a bit but if the slats are gone to the stage where they are very smooth it might be worth taking a look under them next summer when tank empty and check for cracks..i got a shock a few years back when i checked under the slats of an old shed

cjpm

reilig wrote: »

Scudding on slats would be hard on hooves.

Not if you use a very fine sand it shouldn't.

jtex

I don't have cattle, but if your looking for something grippy try a taring company. I'm not talking asphalt but the grippy stuff they put down at junctions, bad corners it' normally yellow/red. It would give grip and be hard wearing.

I could be completly off the chart with this just an idea

Craggy Island

vanderbadger wrote: »

sorry to go off topic a bit but if the slats are gone to the stage where they are very smooth it might be worth taking a look under them next summer when tank empty and check for cracks..i got a shock a few years back when i checked under the slats of an old shed

The thing is the slats themseles look like new, they're gangslats btw.. no damage to the edges etc. No tractors on them just cows. Worth having a look underneath though.. Might leave that for another day when there's more than 2" of space between the slurry and slats:D.( yippee it's raining. Spreading tomorrow so)

Reilig- I'd be conscious of having the surface not too rough if scudding alright. It'd a fine line between getting it right and getting it arseways wrong. Even with normal slats u can see how cows like to get the front feet up on a mat. Alot of weight standing on slats for a winter.

Jtex- I'm not really familiar with the stuff you mentioned but it could be onto the right thing. A slightly rougher surface would make all the difference however i'll do it

Maybe i'm barking up the wrong tree thinking about sandblasting. I know it needs an even roughing all over .I think cuts here and there with a grinder wouldn't suffice to give enough grip. I know when concrete passageways are being grooved, the cuts are deeper and wider.

I'm still hoping someone will show up and say" I had the exact same problem and this is how I solved it.....:rolleyes:"

I wonder could I groove the cows feet:D

F.D

I wonder could I groove the cows feet:D

Maybe you could design a non slip rubber pad to glue to the cows hoof that would be designed to wear away after a few months, you'd be a millionare

Craggy Island

F.D wrote: »

Maybe you could design a non slip rubber pad to glue to the cows hoof that would be designed to wear away after a few months, you'd be a millionare

I thought they had a version of that some years back ( Cowslips I thought they were called) to put on a good claw to take the weight off the sore one. If you don't tell anyone ,I wont. Sure no one will read this post. We'll go 50/50 on this so €€€€€€€€:P We'll be millionaires, but i'd just be doing it for the animal welfare obviously:pac:

milkprofit

Power hose all old dung off slats then keep them wet when wet with no dung wont be slippey

leg wax

scudding sounds the best i just looked up non slip paint on the net any of those any good?

Craggy Island

MILK PROFIT wrote: »

Power hose all old dung off slats then keep them wet when wet with no dung wont be slippey

There's no build up of dung on the slats. I can scrape them clean with a hand scraper. I know what you're thinking of alright.

Ive a slatted house beside the cubicle house, with slats, maybe from another supplier( can't remember) and there's no problem( only weanlings in it mainly though).

whelan1

was it only this year the problem started?

aujopimur

You could hire a scrabber and give them a once over to give them a rough surface.

whelan1

aujopimur wrote: »

You could hire a scrabber and give them a once over to give them a rough surface.

we did that in our shed last year but we dont have slats , great job

pakalasa

It's probably the way the slats were made alright, the concrete settled too much with all the coarser stuff going to the bottom.

This is an add for Durapak slat mats but at the bottom, you will you will see another advert for grooving slats, so it must be common enough;
R S Contracts - the company are called
http://www.durapakagri.ie/Farm-Week-Article-3.pdf

whelan1

you can do them yourself , the grooving crowds are very expensive , it cost us 45 euro to hire the machine for the day a fraction of their cost

snowman707

Craggy Island wrote: »

There's no build up of dung on the slats. I can scrape them clean with a hand scraper. I know what you're thinking of alright.

Ive a slatted house beside the cubicle house, with slats, maybe from another supplier( can't remember) and there's no problem( only weanlings in it mainly though).

AHHH!!

I wouldn't be surprised if there is a film of rubber on the concrete,

power hose them and brush with a 50/50 mix chlorus and water leave for maybe half an hour and hose off ,

other wise sprinkle with cubicle lime or preferably ground limestone

denis086

We got all our cow yards and passageways grooved its a great job even the couple of slats over the channels we havent had any cow slip or spread themselves seriously since. we were having problems with a couple of cows going down every winter and its a nasty job having to ge the digger in and then the risk of loosing them if they down recover

Craggy Island

denis086 wrote: »

We got all our cow yards and passageways grooved its a great job even the couple of slats over the channels we havent had any cow slip or spread themselves seriously since. we were having problems with a couple of cows going down every winter and its a nasty job having to ge the digger in and then the risk of loosing them if they down recover

I know the feeling Denis086. My experience exactly. When you got the slats grooved did you cut parallel with the slat, and how close to the slat edge did you go.

aujopimur wrote: »

You could hire a scrabber and give them a once over to give them a rough surface.

I'm not familiar with those. Is it a kind of grinding machine. ( Roughly:D how do they work),blades or what? I'd be happy to do it myself. Thinking about scudding again, I'm wondering if i'd be able to scrape the slats at all though after it..

pakalasa wrote: »

It's probably the way the slats were made alright, the concrete settled too much with all the coarser stuff going to the bottom.

This is an add for Durapak slat mats but at the bottom, you will you will see another advert for grooving slats, so it must be common enough;
R S Contracts - the company are called
http://www.durapakagri.ie/Farm-Week-Article-3.pdf

I'd say Pakalasa, its probably down to the way they were made alright. Sorry someone asked,It's been a problem for a few years now yeah. Makes me wonder have the slats been getting more smooth over time.I wouldnt mind seeing grooved slats before I'd go do it myself.
I couldn't find the link to slat grooving link/ad on durapak website. Oh yeah just found it.. thanks

Craggy Island

snowman707 wrote: »

AHHH!!

I wouldn't be surprised if there is a film of rubber on the concrete,

power hose them and brush with a 50/50 mix chlorus and water leave for maybe half an hour and hose off ,

other wise sprinkle with cubicle lime or preferably ground limestone

Snowman 707- Do you mean a film of rubber from Scrapers? How would that happen? I dont have auto scrapers on the slats, just the hand job hand scraper.
Whats the effect of chloros and water/ cubicle lime on the slats? Any permanent effect on improving/roughing the concrete surface?. Ive seen it when I've spilt nitric acid neat on the dairy floor(by mistake) that it can eat into it.

snowman707

Craggy Island wrote: »

Snowman 707- Do you mean a film of rubber from Scrapers? How would that happen? I dont have auto scrapers on the slats, just the hand job hand scraper.
Whats the effect of chloros and water/ cubicle lime on the slats? Any permanent effect on improving/roughing the concrete surface?. Ive seen it when I've spilt nitric acid neat on the dairy floor(by mistake) that it can eat into it.

the rubbers of some of them hand scrapers make the concrete very slippery, found this ourselves cleaning around the milking parlour admitted the concrete was old & smooth but one particular brand of rubbers made it like glass

Chloros will be slightly corrosive and possibly remove a very minuscule amount of concrete but with a once off usage should cause no lasting damage , lime won't harm the slats and should help to give the cows a grip, but might not be as effective on slats
we found the rubbers that are very rigid cause less problems, I think (could be wrong on this) they have a red stripe (wear indicator)

denis086

The fella who did ours just cut them perpendicular to the slots in the slats it you know what i mean so we didnt stop for the edges the slots just do right the way across it. Theres about 3'' spacing between them he could do a couple of different sized patterns the rest of the yards are all 3'' box pattern. We didnt see the point doing parrallel because the slots will give them grip but im sure its possible to do it

Craggy Island

snowman707 wrote: »

the rubbers of some of them hand scrapers make the concrete very slippery, found this ourselves cleaning around the milking parlour admitted the concrete was old & smooth but one particular brand of rubbers made it like glass

Chloros will be slightly corrosive and possibly remove a very minuscule amount of concrete but with a once off usage should cause no lasting damage , lime won't harm the slats and should help to give the cows a grip, but might not be as effective on slats
we found the rubbers that are very rigid cause less problems, I think (could be wrong on this) they have a red stripe (wear indicator)

Thats interesting. I'd never have thought scraper rubber could stay stuck onto the concrete with all the hoof traffic on it. I haven't scraped the slats for months. I only do it after the cows are dried off for a while or with calved cows indoors for hygiene in the parlour. So you think it gets engrained in the top of the slat then. I'd be willing to give it a try with the chloros and water and see.

Craggy Island

denis086 wrote: »

The fella who did ours just cut them perpendicular to the slots in the slats it you know what i mean so we didnt stop for the edges the slots just do right the way across it. Theres about 3'' spacing between them he could do a couple of different sized patterns the rest of the yards are all 3'' box pattern. We didnt see the point doing parrallel because the slots will give them grip but im sure its possible to do it

Had ye any concerns about cutting them across the slats?
Did they chip the slats at the edges at all?
How deep/ wide a cut was made?
Did they use a saw similar to a road saw like for expansion joints in concrete slabs?
What way do they charge?
€.50/ correct answer( once I get the rest of my SFP of course). :rolleyes:

I better stop before I think up any more questions !

blue5000

Hey Craggy island could you bolt on sheets of weldmesh on top of the slats? Use big U bolts that go round a slat underneath it, with the nuts on top.

Craggy Island

blue5000 wrote: »

Hey Craggy island could you bolt on sheets of weldmesh on top of the slats? Use big U bolts that go round a slat underneath it, with the nuts on top.

Thanks for that idea Blue 5000. I'd never seen that done before. I'm sure they wouldn't slip on weldmesh, but It'd be some job to fit the u-bolts and I'd never be able to scrape it with the bolts sticking up. Also the weldmesh would trap slurry and probably eventually block the slats. Have you done it ever yourself or know anyone who's done it?

reilig

Someone hinted at it above, but the anti-slip that you see on roads coming into round abouts might be a good job. Check it out here - http://www.carparkmarkings.ie/antiskid.html

Its applied hot and sets as it cools. Its not too rough so wouldn't be hard on feet and It will never come off. Also, it won't stop the slurry going down between the slats.

Craggy Island

reilig wrote: »

Someone hinted at it above, but the anti-slip that you see on roads coming into round abouts might be a good job. Check it out here - http://www.carparkmarkings.ie/antiskid.html

Its applied hot and sets as it cools. Its not too rough so wouldn't be hard on feet and It will never come off. Also, it won't stop the slurry going down between the slats.

Thanks Reilig. Yeah JTEX mentioned that. This seems to sound very like what i'm after. A few options here. I see they have a non slip paint and a bitumen type coating. I'll give them a call tomorrow for more information.

I've seen non slip paint in some milking parlour floors. Must find out how thick the bitumen coating would need to go on.

lollipop19

Hi there, i realise that this is an old thread but we also have a problem with really slippy slats. Its a 4 bay shed with gang slats and its lethal. Spent a few hours today power hosing the slats so waiting to see what it'll be like after. any ideas?

TITANIUM.

lollipop19 wrote: »

Hi there, i realise that this is an old thread but we also have a problem with really slippy slats. Its a 4 bay shed with gang slats and its lethal. Spent a few hours today power hosing the slats so waiting to see what it'll be like after. any ideas?

Just go and get um grooved. That's about all you can do with um unless you're going to go away and buy mats.

lollipop19

Just a little wary of grooving them incase it weakens them?

TITANIUM.

lollipop19 wrote: »

Just a little wary of grooving them incase it weakens them?

Your right. I suppose it stands to reason that it'd weaken them to a certain extent. Are they old? You don't have allot of options I'm afraid. Mats are pricey.

frazzledhome

lollipop19 wrote: »

Just a little wary of grooving them incase it weakens them?

Grooved slatts 15 yrs ago no bother. Good groover guy will know the limit

buffalobilly

Wonder if you give slats a good wash unibonded them mix scud (one part cement one part silver sand and plenty uni bond) and put it on with a paint roller would it work

Good loser

frazzledhome wrote: »

Grooved slatts 15 yrs ago no bother. Good groover guy will know the limit

I'd go that route.

Craggy Island

The slats I got grooved that time four years ago did a good job. It seems to have lost a little of its effectiveness since then. I mightn't have gone as deep with the Grooving as some others might.
I found when we were deciding on how hard to groove tthem, that it was taking too big a chunk out of the slat edge when we went deeper so we went shallower.
I think a wider groove might be better because cows feet don't get the chance to grip as much on a narrow one. Their feet just slide over them.
I've 2 more sheds to get done before the winter. I do think some companies slats can tend to be slipper than others though, even from new.
My wife just suggested I stick tape on the cows hooves. I've just suggested the baby has a dirty nappy.