The benefits of a properly grooved floor on cow farms can be measured in the short and long term. These will be improvements that dairy farmers will see in both direct financial and overall farm productivity metrics, improving cow longevity.
The immediate benefits will be reduced cow injuries and improved sanitation, which will reduce hoof disease. This means less financial expenses in terms of veterinary services and lost cow.
In practice, we have verified that, after a properly grooved floor, cow injuries on farms decrease by 70-80% on average.
Grooving floors on cow farms is nothing new. Most builders, veterinarians and consultants believe that the more grooves, the better the grip. But this is not true! The most important thing is to do it technically correctly and according to methods recognized and evaluated in practice*.
The grooving must be longitudinal, the grooves located at a certain distance and depth. The nail has the best grip on a completely flat surface with 18mm wide grooves spaced approximately 65mm apart.
Floors can only be grooved properly once, and in this case it will last for a long time. It will have an effective grip between the cow's hoof and the floor, ensuring its optimal functioning. Correct groove direction, depth and groove spacing will not only reduce the risk of injury, but will also promote uniform wear of the nail and reduce the accumulation of bacteria in the grooves, thereby reducing the conditions that cause nail disease.
In manure passages that have diagonal or perpendicular grooves, the barnyard manure left in them create a higher amount of bacteria. A higher incidence of interdigital dermatitis has been observed in farms with diagonal furrows. In some cases, also with interdigital phlegm.
If your farm is improperly grooved or has slippery floors, they can be improved by cutting new grooves using MiniGroove20 or MiniGroove26 technology.*
SIA ATTOR carries out floor grooving for both existing and new floors with *Trakrite Global methods. According to research by experts at SaveCows.com, these methods have significantly helped reduce livestock lameness, hoof inflammation and injury problems on farms in Europe, North America and Australia.
