Latimer, Iowa (north central) | I would agree with pretty much everything Iowa beef said. Originally we had about 650 head outside and 650 head inside a slatted barn. If a calf wasn't 900 lbs or so going into the slatted barn we would have alot more issues. When we started feeding more light calves we built more outside lots to keep cattle out of the slatted barn till they were heavier. Grooving the slats and cutting the swish off tails at reimplanting time helped with many of the issues. Also the air inside a slat barn can be pretty corrosive to anything metal. Would make as much as possible out of stainless and concrete. Gates will not hold up well. Would also suggest keeping the pit sizes smaller. Compared to hog manure, cattle manure is thick and hard to mix. We had 33'x66' pits with one place we would pull slats to put a pump in per pen and would often have to add water or hog manure to get them mixed well. hard to get the manure rolling like you can with hog manure. I would want the pump to be able to shoot directly into corners of the pit, the hog barn style pump outs with only 60 degrees of rotation or so would not work well.
I can't see the economics of a new slat barn working well. If you love cattle go for it, if you just like cattle a slat barn doesn't have as many other uses and is a huge financial commitment. |
Slatted floor confinement buildings for beef cattle
