Bulling sucklers on slats

farmingmad6400

New to this so bear with me. Starting autumn suckler herd and wondering do any of ye use the bull on slats? If so how do ye get on. thanks:D

reilig

farmingmad6400 wrote: »

New to this so bear with me. Starting autumn suckler herd and wondering do any of ye use the bull on slats? If so how do ye get on. thanks:D

Bull runs on slats no problem. Have cubicles with rubber mats at the back and he makes lots of use of them. Have ran the last 3 bulls that we've had on the slats and they have all had long lives. We always get his feet done in October - even if he's showing no sign of lameness. If he has a pebble, ulcer or bruise then the last place you want it to become noticable is on the slats!

farmingmad6400

Thanks for reply reilig. Had you any bother with cows coming in heat on slats. I just have slats with creep area out back for calves just wanted to start autumn herd and would make it a lot handier to put bull in as its outside farm so ai wud be difficult.

vanderbadger

farmingmad6400 wrote: »

New to this so bear with me. Starting autumn suckler herd and wondering do any of ye use the bull on slats? If so how do ye get on. thanks:D

yes no problem, he has rubber under him but in years gone by we often had bulls on slats without rubber and they worked away, probably not ideal without the mats however

farmingmad6400

vanderbadger wrote: »

yes no problem, he has rubber under him but in years gone by we often had bulls on slats without rubber and they worked away, probably not ideal without the mats however

Thanks, yeah i have mats down find them great so hopefully he will get on ok. Do you feed on the cows on well to bring them bulling?

vanderbadger

farmingmad6400 wrote: »

Thanks, yeah i have mats down find them great so hopefully he will get on ok. Do you feed on the cows on well to bring them bulling?

nah not especially, i would have cows calved and cows not yet calved together and they all get the same

farmingmad6400

vanderbadger wrote: »

nah not especially, i would have cows calved and cows not yet calved together and they all get the same

That makes it handy so .When would you be weaning them off, would you dry off cows on slats or what way do you manage this not sure myself as only have spring calvers at present. Advice needed

yellow50HX

i might have mis understood the question so bear with me.

we have spring calving so we leave the bull with the cows through out the winter on a mixture of cubicles and slats, he seems happy out, mostly lies on the slats. In at night and out by day, gives them excrise and takes them off teh concrete for a bit too. Cows would be bulling during late spring and summer so that is out in the field. Not sure i'd be wanting my bull hopping on cows on slats. saw a cow slip and catch her leg once and snap it in two when she had another cow jumping on her.

lad up the road has authumn calvers and the bull is in his own pen during the winter if a cow is bulling when they are indoors he brings her into the pen with the bull till the deed is done.

farmingmad6400

yellow50HX wrote: »

i might have mis understood the question so bear with me.

we have spring calving so we leave the bull with the cows through out the winter on a mixture of cubicles and slats, he seems happy out, mostly lies on the slats. In at night and out by day, gives them excrise and takes them off teh concrete for a bit too. Cows would be bulling during late spring and summer so that is out in the field. Not sure i'd be wanting my bull hopping on cows on slats. saw a cow slip and catch her leg once and snap it in two when she had another cow jumping on her.

lad up the road has authumn calvers and the bull is in his own pen during the winter if a cow is bulling when they are indoors he brings her into the pen with the bull till the deed is done.

I know have heard all the horror stories, but have slat mats down everywhere tis as good as extra feeding, cows more confident and no lameness so far. Would like to do as you were saying putting cow in as needed but it being outside farm and with work tis a none runner unfortunately.Thanks for advice

vanderbadger

farmingmad6400 wrote: »

That makes it handy so .When would you be weaning them off, would you dry off cows on slats or what way do you manage this not sure myself as only have spring calvers at present. Advice needed

ya calves one side of shed, cows on the other

reilig

farmingmad6400 wrote: »

Thanks for reply reilig. Had you any bother with cows coming in heat on slats. I just have slats with creep area out back for calves just wanted to start autumn herd and would make it a lot handier to put bull in as its outside farm so ai wud be difficult.

Only problem that I have with cows coming abulling on the slats is noticing those that the bull isn't with. Its mainly pedigrees that I want to use AI on. Have them tail painted, but nothing's happening!

farmingmad6400

vanderbadger wrote: »

ya calves one side of shed, cows on the other

Any trouble with the cows drying them off on the slats?

farmingmad6400

reilig wrote: »

Only problem that I have with cows coming abulling on the slats is noticing those that the bull isn't with. Its mainly pedigrees that I want to use AI on. Have them tail painted, but nothing's happening!

i have heard that alot about pedigrees both char and some lim cows

RaggyDays

Do the cows come bulling inside on slats? If they do its not for long if at all. I don`t ever see them bulling for some reason. Would the heat detection patches work inside?

vanderbadger

farmingmad6400 wrote: »

Any trouble with the cows drying them off on the slats?

No they have access to cubicles. Some never lie on them however. They stat clean enough though generally

porter shark

we have had bulls working on slats in the past and never had problems but in my eyes anyone with a mixture of spring and autumn calving should just keep on a late spring born bull calf to detect cows in heat and use ai.

well worth the bit of hassel.

farmingmad6400

RaggyDays wrote: »

Do the cows come bulling inside on slats? If they do its not for long if at all. I don`t ever see them bulling for some reason. Would the heat detection patches work inside?

i thought the same until this year i put in slat mats and i could say a 100% increase in cows bulling. Way more confident on slats and no lameness

farmingmad6400

vanderbadger wrote: »

No they have access to cubicles. Some never lie on them however. They stat clean enough though generally

yeah dats my only worry as they have just acess to slats with mats do, will try it out and see how i get on thanks