Posted 1 May 2014
A long dry followed by a big wet can lead to lame cows.
After long dry spells, the cow muck builds up and covers the farm race close to the cowshed. The rain comes and the race becomes very mucky as the ground gets wetter and wetter.
If you have brown rock, shell rock, river rock or lime fines races on the first 100-200 metres of your farm race, this area close to the cowshed can take a lot longer to dry due to the extra build-up of muck.
After a couple of days, you can start to feel loose stones under your gumboots. This means trouble for your cows.
Before too long, the race surface under all that wet muck starts to break down and become loose. Any soft rock has already broken down and mixed in with the wet muck, making the build up worse.
When the cows start coming onto the yard, they pick up those loose stones and bring them onto the cowshed yard. Even small stones (7-25mm) can cause bruises, which lead to infection and lameness.
Now - when heavy rain has followed a long dry season - is a good time to start thinking about a StockRock capping layer for your farm races. Measure the length and width of the race by pacing out in reasonable stretched (1-metre) paces. This measure will be sufficient to give you an estimate of the volume required.
Then go to our StockRock calculator. Click on "First 200 metres from cowshed" and input the figures you have measured to calculate the total volume required to cap your race in StockRock. When the figure shows up, click on "Request Quote", which will send an email request to Shane Smith. Shane will get you a price for delivery to your farm. Or, you can send Shane an email and tell him about any race surface problems on your farm.
Shane has been in the StockRock business for many years. He has seen a range of capping surfaces, and visited farm races in different conditions. Unlike the alternatives, StockRock does not require replacement every year, or every second year. StockRocks outlasts its competitors.
Talk to Shane 0800 88 55 55. He can provide professional and expert advice about using Stockrock as a race surface, and help you to avoid Lame Cows.
To understand the costs or request a quote, visit our user friendly online calculator or talk to our StockRock expert.
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