The Rural Voice, 1998-05, Page 32Pasture Mat
1
The Golden Standard in Cow Comfort
Pasture Mat is the only cow mat that feels, gives and behaves like
natural pasture - thereby reducing impact -related injuries. Your
cows will spend up to 14 times longer Tying in
stalls than with solid rubber mats!
Pasture Mat features:
• Multi -celled mattress filled with
uniformly sized rubber crumbs.
• Mat is protected by a tough,
top wear skin.
• Will not tear, stretch, deform or
lose its shape.
• Compatible with new and existing installations.
• Non-organic Pasture Mat System does not support production
of bacteria.
patent pending
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PROMAT LTD 1-800-235-7445
Patent Pending
TEL (519) 527-2284 • SEAFORTH, ONTARIO • e-mail: young@golden.net
Dry cast concrete and epoxy coated rebar combine to provide
proven durability. Design Concrete
personnel can assist in providing floor layouts to suit
your progressive farming operation.
self-cleaning
easy walking
virtually eliminates
injury
excellent traction
for heat detection
hole sizes acceptable
for young cattle to
mature cows
28 THE RURAL VOICE
DESIGN CONCRETE SYSTEMS LTD.
56 Birch Street, Seaforth, Ontario
NOK 1\X/0
Tel. (519) 527-0397
Fax (519) 527-1458
told him he was getting cold feet. A
couple of days later, Schenk arrived
at the farm with a rough design for a
smaller barn to hold 70 cows.
At first, Fisher recalls, he didn't
like the idea. He had been planning
for a double -eight milking parlour
with room to expand to a double -12.
Now the plans were for a double -four
that could expand to a double -eight.
The barn would have four alleyways
with alley scrapers.
"I had to think about it for a day
or two, but basically that's the barn I
went with," he says.
Jt was a compact design that has
attracted a lot of attention from
people looking for a more
affordable barn. Instead of a centre
drive-through there's an alley/feed
manger with an overhead feed
conveyor delivering ration from the
feed room at the back end of the
barn. The milking parlour is at the
other end of the barn and cattle come
directly from the free stalls to the
parlour. The design is very open
between the barn and the parlour.
They chose top-quality
equipment. They have the ability to
add meters to the parlour and the
wires are installed to carry
information to computers in the
office in future, though Fisher says
he's not a computer person (but
everybody else in the family is).
But when he went back to the
bank, there seemed to be second
thoughts and they wanted virtually
everything the family had for
security. He began shopping for a
new bank and went to a different
bank every day for a week,
discovering there was a big
difference between terms offered.
Finally his own bank came back with
an offer that suited their needs.
Seeking advice with the project
was to be one of the valuable lessons
in the expansion, particularly when
problems hit later. The builders, for
instance, knew how much space
would be needed for feed for a larger
herd. They also saved him money by
proposing he go to a bunk silo
instead of a tower, cutting into a
nearby hill and using the gravel
removed for fill for the barn. (They
also used every stone pile on the farm
to build up the site by seven feet.)
Fisher says he's glad he turned to a
builder rather than try to act as his