scout
Well-known member
I have a steel keifer built trailer with a wood floor . the floor seems to be excessively slick I ve tried wood chips and sand so nothing goes down didn't know if anybody had any ideas to fix this problem .
livestock trailer question
- Thread starter scout
- Start date
Help Support Ranchers.net:
Big Muddy rancher
Well-known member
I have a rumber floor that is slippery when wet. I find the best is a few shovels of road gravel out of the ridge left by the side of the road. 
Aaron
Well-known member
Wood shavings from a sawmill. Keep a bag or two spare in the neck and they will absorb the moisture and provide some footing.
3 M L & C
Well-known member
I put some rubber mats in mine. I have an aluminum trailer and I love everything about it except the slick floor. The mats I put in are called horse stall mats from orschelens. The are thick and don't look like they would work to good but they work great. I think their feet kind of sink in to them. I have never had an animal slip even calves jumping out the back.
nortexsook
Well-known member
Do these mats shorten the life of the wooden floor?
I have used the wire livestock panels nailed to the floor for 20 years. Works pretty good but not perfect. It does make it a little harder to clean.
I have used the wire livestock panels nailed to the floor for 20 years. Works pretty good but not perfect. It does make it a little harder to clean.
MO_cows
Well-known member
3 M L & C said:
We have the mats from Orschelns, too. They do seem to give good footing.
When we haul, we pull the mats out and hose the mats and also the wood floor underneath, let it dry awhile then put the mats back in. It's a pain but it makes the wood floor last a lot longer. Unfortunately this might keep the trailer a little too clean and fresh smelling. It has been borrowed over and over again for people to move. Might need to re-think that one.......
We use some type of somewhat worn rubber belting found at the great salvage place at Union Center, SD. Take them out and wash floor occasionally. No problems with wood wearing, I'm sure, since the floors stay reasonably protected, IF washed occasionally.
mrj
mrj
3 M L & C
Well-known member
nortexsook said:
A local trailer sales dude has been putting mats on wood floors for over ten years when they leave his place. If there are sufficient enough cracks in between the boards and you put the mats in to where they are tight no trouble at all. Have a friend that did this and after hauling they had a squigy they would use on the mat to get the manure out and that was it. They would only pull the mats out once a year and thougholy wash it out. I told him that was a good way to ruin a floor leaving the mats in. But after a few brewskis we were aurguing one night so we pulled up a mat in the middle of the trailer and the wood looked brand new.
3 M L & C
Well-known member
MO_cows said:
I like to wash my trailer out after use as well. But sometimes the cattle don't want to jump into an aluminum trailer that is clean and bright. Dirty it up and they jump right in. :roll:
I have the mats from Orschelns also. My big trailer has had them in it for 7 years. They have been pulled out twice. I shovel it out after each use, but quit washing it out, after I had trouble loading a load of cows. Normally this trailer is the easiest trailer to load, I have ever been around. After washing it out, pulling the mats and giving it a total clean job, I had trouble loading a load of cows. Since then, its been a shovel job. The trailer is a 93 model, and the floor still has the paint on it.
We use rubber stall mats in both our steel trailer with wood planked floor and aluminum trailer with aluminum floor. The planks have enough gap that air moves between the boards for drying and does not rot. The rubber provides good traction with no slippage.
perfecho
Well-known member
If you leave manure and straw in, it deadens the sound makes cows comfy with feet gripping and is a heck of alot easier than cleaning after every load....but then I was born lazy ;-)
scout
Well-known member
Thanks for the ideas do you just staple the cattle panels down with fencing staples?
nortexsook
Well-known member
scout said:
Yes
DCM
Member
How are you guys securing those rubber mats in place? I have thrown some in on wet floors before just loose and lost one out under the back door and onto the road. I would like to cover the whole floor and want to secure them in place. Are you just bolting them to the wood floor?
3 M L & C
Well-known member
DCM said:
I cut mine to fit tight. And cut around the middle door and then in the back there is a little notch cut out of the mat on each edge where the back post is on the trailer. Mine kind of fit like a jigsaw puzzle. It took a little work but a new utility knife blade works good for cutting them.
3 M L & C said:
That is how mine are also. If I do it again, I would like to find mats as wide as the trailer. The mats I bought were 6 feet long, my trailer is 6'8" wide.
I puzzled all the mats in, so I don't have just one side with a narrow strip.Soapweed
Well-known member
LazyWP said:3 M L & C said:
That is how mine are also. If I do it again, I would like to find mats as wide as the trailer. The mats I bought were 6 feet long, my trailer is 6'8" wide.
The real secret to providing good footing in a trailer is to just not clean them out too often. :wink:
