Cattle / hog slats

Sparktrician · Apr 22, 2020

Howdy. Working on a project here at the farm.....

Building a creek crossing and walkway down a hill from our feedlot & manure storage barn.

Basically, it would be a 12' wide (or thereabouts) pathway for the cattle (brood cows & calves) out of the barn, down a slope (roughly 200') it will cross a creek, then up the other bank into pasture.

NRCS has designed this as a gravel pathway, but gravel and cattle do not last long, I forsee a lot of gravel being added over the long term useage of this.

I thought about concreting this, but it is a decent grade (not sure exactly what grade, but probably drops 20-30' over the 200' run) and it would be a issue with any snow, ice, etc.

I thought earlier of hog barn slats (google search found cattle slats).

I think that opening would work to give enough traction to get up them, what are your thoughts on size of openings and qty in each slat?

I am considering forming and pouring my own in place on a gravel base.

Janicholson · Apr 22, 2020

A 1:10 slope is steep. Were it mine I would consider putting preformed concrete sills placed about 2.5' apart (between) and just sticking out of the trail. Probably at least 6X6, with 2, #4 rebar in each. Having them at an angle to the slope like a tractor tire tread, but an angle more like 8 degrees, would shed water to each side. putting pit run crushed rock above each one would help stabilize the soil. A less expensive option might be to run the path diagonally for 200 feet, then back to the the water 200 feet. making a switchback at the apex. It would use more land, but might provide the reduced slope and make runoff and mud less of a problem Jim

TKiste · Apr 23, 2020

Spark, is this a fenced lane? one of the issues with cows is they tend to avoid hard surfaces. if concreted they will walk along the edge. Same issue with using a switchback configuration, cows walk in straight lines. If the lane is fenced, the use of geotextile fabric will exponentially increase the time the stone stays in place. On that steep of slope a base layer of larger (#2 stone) will also aide in keeping it from washing. Then a layer of (#53 stone) crushed with fines as a top layer for feet comfort. Another option is to use the course stone and then grade that over with soil and seed it heavy with fescue. We call that "locked in".

Sparktrician · Apr 23, 2020

Yes it will be fenced. We have it partially done now from when we built the Barn, used c a geo fabric, #2 stone then crushed stone on top. That was 2018, the crushed stone is about gone in the stretch we did.

Cattle / hog slats

Sparktrician

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Janicholson

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TKiste

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Sparktrician

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