Milking parlour concrete too smooth

PVMC

Updated the parlour 5 years ago. The concrete where the cows stand has got too smooth and the cows are slipping on it. Just looking for advice as to grooving the floor or should I get parlour mats. Pros and cons regarding either.
Long time surfer but not too many posts so far. Thanks in advance.

kevthegaff

I used a consaw last year where they were slipping coming out, its worked wonders

Greengrass1

PVMC wrote: »

Updated the parlour 5 years ago. The concrete where the cows stand has got too smooth and the cows are slipping on it. Just looking for advice as to grooving the floor or should I get parlour mats. Pros and cons regarding either.
Long time surfer but not too many posts so far. Thanks in advance.

Seen an add on DD the other day for groving floors.
One had a parlour floor in picture and they had cut 3 lines up the parlour.
Looks good job. Will have to do it here I'd say

aujopimur

You can hire a machine, its name escapes me, that will roughen the concrete.

biddy2013

aujopimur wrote: »

You can hire a machine, its name escapes me, that will roughen the concrete.

We did that. Great job. I can't remember the name of it either

Greengrass1

aujopimur wrote: »

You can hire a machine, its name escapes me, that will roughen the concrete.

Where did you get it.
Lad that built our parlour power floated the whole yoke. Disaster

biddy2013

Greengrass1 wrote: »

Where did you get it.
Lad that built our parlour power floated the whole yoke. Disaster

local hire place, its a machine that roughens up concrete, you push it along, there are blades on the bottom of it and i still cant remember the name of it, no sleep for me until i do

enricoh

Hire out a scabbler n a compressor- hard to explain how it works but we used use em on site to tie in new concrete on old n it really roughens up the surface.
Prepared to be bored senseless n get ear muffs!

Bactidiaryl

biddy2013 wrote: »

We did that. Great job. I can't remember the name of it either

Was it a scabbler.

Greengrass1

biddy2013 wrote: »

local hire place, its a machine that roughens up concrete, you push it along, there are blades on the bottom of it and i still cant remember the name of it, no sleep for me until i do

Would you be able to post a picture of what the floor is like now?

freedominacup

aujopimur wrote: »

You can hire a machine, its name escapes me, that will roughen the concrete.

If it's a scabbler you're thinking of I wouldn't recommend it. It will open the concrete up and allow it wear much more easily. It's only meant for creating s rough edge when you are joining new to old.

biddy2013

freedominacup wrote: »

If it's a scabbler you're thinking of I wouldn't recommend it. It will open the concrete up and allow it wear much more easily. It's only meant for creating s rough edge when you are joining new to old.

afair there where a few different machines and the one we used we could set the depth we where cutting, it just marked the surface. It cost under 200 euro for the day between the hire and to pay a local lad to use it. We did the milking parlour, collecting yard and all the cubicle sheds. Was about 4 years ago. Touch wood this year we have had no splits -in the cows-yet

biddy2013

Greengrass1 wrote: »

Would you be able to post a picture of what the floor is like now?

you wouldnt see the marks on it tbh

knockmulliner

http://www.concretegrooving.ie/There a chap in limerick goes all over the country grooves the concrete every two inches, did an old parlour for me years ago very successful he advertises in the farmers journal.

bbam

And is the professional grooving expensive.
I'd have thought taking a whole day out for this kind of drudgery wouldn't be in the schedule for a busy dairy farm in the spring.
Plus the chances of spoiling the surface in a parlour would be an expensive mistake. There is a lad in Tullyvin Cavan does it and seems to travel all over and is busy.

kevthegaff

i have no channes in the silage slabs, theres a lip around it going into a collection gully, is that ok for cross compliance? and woud one of these ads be able to put down channel?

keep going

Raising the cow standings in the parlour by six inchs so basiclly whole new floor and wondering about 2 things .first what newton concrete to use (was thinking thirty) and next what the best finish.when I did it originally I just rough floated after a hour or so that gave me a reasonable finish but after 13 years it was just starting to get slippery a bit.are there any treatment s that ye have used

Cow Porter

keep going wrote: »

Raising the cow standings in the parlour by six inchs so basiclly whole new floor and wondering about 2 things .first what newton concrete to use (was thinking thirty) and next what the best finish.when I did it originally I just rough floated after a hour or so that gave me a reasonable finish but after 13 years it was just starting to get slippery a bit.are there any treatment s that ye have used

Ask about getting eco cem in the mix, just floated here, 35 n though. You could check out stuff called parlour top which it better wearing than concrete, didn't do it here cos thought it was too dear,.different colours available too. Company in Dublin do it called the construction chemicals

Greengrass1

keep going wrote: »

Raising the cow standings in the parlour by six inchs so basiclly whole new floor and wondering about 2 things .first what newton concrete to use (was thinking thirty) and next what the best finish.when I did it originally I just rough floated after a hour or so that gave me a reasonable finish but after 13 years it was just starting to get slippery a bit.are there any treatment s that ye have used

Think the mix has a good bit to do with it. More sand would make it fairly grippy.
Get the stuff you throw on top of setting cement turbs it red stops the cement wearing down

Timmaay

Greengrass1 wrote: »

Think the mix has a good bit to do with it. More sand would make it fairly grippy.
Get the stuff you throw on top of setting cement turbs it red stops the cement wearing down

The mix is coming in at about 500quid of an extra for me. I dunno to go for it or not, the fact that it looks fancy (which every parlour salesman seemed to be driving ha) I honestly couldn't care less about, but if it will make a decent difference to reducing the wear rate, and it leaves the surface gripper for longer then it might be worth it.

Greengrass1

Timmaay wrote: »

The mix is coming in at about 500quid of an extra for me. I dunno to go for it or not, the fact that it looks fancy (which every parlour salesman seemed to be driving ha) I honestly couldn't care less about, but if it will make a decent difference to reducing the wear rate, and it leaves the surface gripper for longer then it might be worth it.

Definitely worth it we didn't put it in ours and its wearing at an unbelievable rate

kowtow

We're planning on using the dry topping - there is quite a good article on it here

http://www.teagasc.ie/advisory/farm_management/buildings/milkingEquipment/milking_machines/NewMilkingParlourFloors.pdf

I think it's about €35-40 for a 25kg bag (might be wrong) which covers either 5m2 or 10m2 - you apply it twice as far as I know.

awaywithyou

kowtow wrote: »

We're planning on using the dry topping - there is quite a good article on it here

http://www.teagasc.ie/advisory/farm_management/buildings/milkingEquipment/milking_machines/NewMilkingParlourFloors.pdf

I think it's about €35-40 for a 25kg bag (might be wrong) which covers either 5m2 or 10m2 - you apply it twice as far as I know.

if you get plenty of it.. you'll get it for slightly better price... i got 20 bags for 32euro each.... will be getting another 20 bags at least from them.... guy in construction chem said to apply it twice... our builder said we'd do it 3 times.. we ended up doing it 4 times... we applied it at the rate of 25kg/5m2... anything less and the colour doesnt come up great... will put up a pic tomorro of what we've done

keep going

Ye have picked my interest with the parlour top so I must do a bit of research . I was flirting with the notion of using a form made out of rebar to make lines in the stands at right angles to the standings if you get my drift.any cow I ever see slipping in the parlour is alwaysfighting for grip behind her rather than out to the side like you would see in loose house or a yard

braddun

http://www.farmersjournal.ie/archive-grooving-slippery-concrete-167736/

kowtow

keep going wrote: »

Ye have picked my interest with the parlour top so I must do a bit of research . I was flirting with the notion of using a form made out of rebar to make lines in the stands at right angles to the standings if you get my drift.any cow I ever see slipping in the parlour is alwaysfighting for grip behind her rather than out to the side like you would see in loose house or a yard

I was thinking the same about rebar but for our new drafting yard behind the parlour. Trouble is you really want a square pattern, rather than just lines.

There was a roller on one of the stands at the ploughing - basically looked like a curved rebar / mesh cylinder like the ones they drop into pile foundations. About €400 I think - bit too much for something you only use once in a while.