Increased stand-off time with Kura matting
Tirau, Waikato
Bryce Anderton was faced with a number of lame cows when he first moved farms. When he moved a second time he was determined history wouldn’t repeat. That meant making quality rotary and stand-off matting a top priority.
The disheartening results of the first move were a big consideration for the Tirau farmer when planning the new operation.
“About 30% of our cows went lame from that first shift,” he said. “I didn’t want to go through that again so I got the matting down as soon as possible when we shifted this time.”
He only had to look over the fence at his previous farm to see the difference the matting could make.
“The matting was the best economic option for us. As a stand-off pad, I would say it will pay for itself in less than 10 years.”
“My previous neighbour had the matting down in his dairy shed and I knew it was something I wanted when we moved onto the new farm,” said Bryce. “We were moving the cows from a herringbone shed to a rotary set-up – so I wanted to ensure as little stress as possible.
It’s not just in the shed where he’s seeing the difference. Bryce says the Kura matting also provides an ideal solution as a stand-off pad.
He reports the cows can be kept in the soft and comfortable yard overnight and still walk off fine in the morning. Concrete isn’t an option for more than two hours, Bryce stating “if you leave them on concrete yards for the night they all walk off like geriatrics the next day.”
Sawdust, sacrifice paddocks and other options were weighed up against the matting and the result was obvious: “The matting was the best economic option for us.”
“I would say it (the stand-off pad) will pay for itself in less than 10 years. If we didn’t have the matting in the holding yards for stand-off then we would need another option like
a sawdust pad,” he said.
“This would then require a lot more capital to install and it would take an annual upkeep of $5,000 to $10,000. And that’s not including the cost of installing another effluent system too.”
