Cleanliness of corridors and cubicles: take the right approach
In your buildings, alley floors are generally smooth and flat. The search for ways to optimize their maintenance while respecting the comfort of the animals has led to a simple idea that can improve the health of your dairy cows: the installation of a slope on the side of the alley to facilitate drainage. Juices and milk are evacuated more quickly towards the center of the alley, resulting in drier cubicles and cleaner, healthier cows. Here's how it works.
Clean, dry barn for healthy cows
The risk of infection is omnipresent in buildings. To limit this risk, it is vital to identify areas of concern, such as rest areas, which must be kept as clean as possible, and areas with a high bacterial potential. Along corridors and at the end of cubicles, milk, urine and other effluents tend to stagnate. Cows' tails dip into these damp areas, soiling both the animal and its cubicle. This soiling is a breeding ground for bacteria, increasing the risk of infections, especially mastitis.
A 3% slope to facilitate drainage
The installation of a slight slope across the alley enables juice and milk to be evacuated towards the center of the alley. Scraper cleaning becomes more efficient. Bioret Agri has developed Pente Plus, an expert in cow well-being, a source of greater profitability for dairy operations. This molded polyethylene liner, to be installed on either side of the alley, has a 3% slope and is covered with rubber to prevent urine stagnation and milk loss at the rear of the cubicle. Cows' tails and feet are thus protected from soiling and possible contamination, and cubicles are cleaner.
Improving building performance
The use of Pente plus, whether or not combined with the installation of suitable linings such as Magellan drainage matting, enables the correction of masonry defects that cause areas of damp stagnation. In addition to facilitating building maintenance, this also improves the building's performance in reducing ammonia emissions. The Bioret Agri Pente Plus innovation, which has been patented, has received international approval. The equipment is even recommended by the Vera Protocol for reducing greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions from livestock farms.
Pente plus can be used for both building renovation and new construction. The advantage of this method is that, unlike major masonry work, it does not block access to the building over a long period of time. Bioret Agri's teams can complete a turnkey Pente Plus installation in just a few hours. The scraping system used on the farm can be easily adapted to the new slope. Bioret Agri was born out of a dairy farmer's need to find practical solutions to everyday problems. Pente Plus is one of the answers he has come up with for more sustainable and profitable farming.
