What is the best flooring option when finishing cattle? Straw bedding was the traditional alternative to concrete slats but, in recent years, many farmers have opted for rubber slats.
Grant aid has made rubber slats much more affordable. Several flooring distributors report strong interest from farmers looking to purchase rubber slats under Tier 1 of the Farm Business Investment Scheme.
While there will be an undoubted improvement in cattle comfort, does the flooring material actually improve animal performance?
A recent study at AFBI Hillsborough looked at a number of flooring options commonly used on beef farms across Northern Ireland and their subsequent effect on cattle performance.
Over the course of the trial, the study found no significant increase in daily liveweight gain, carcase weight or cleanliness of finishing cattle.
These results would support previous similar research work on flooring options carried out by both AFBI and Teagasc.
The trial analysed the performance of 80 dairy-bred bulls from October 2015 to May 2016. The bulls were housed at eight months of age and averaged 224kg liveweight at this point.
Prior to housing, the bulls were grazing from June 2015 and also receiving 2kg/day of concentrates. Bulls were treated for parasites at three weeks post-turnout and every six to eight weeks thereafter.
The trial lasted 204 days from housing, bringing the bulls through to slaughter at just under 16 months of age. The bulls were slaughtered in three groups to allow for a fair comparison between age and treatment.
The first 101 days of the housing period were used as a growing phase before the bulls moved on to the intensive finishing period for the remaining 103 days.
Two diets were offered. During the growing phase, bulls were offered high-quality silage on an ad-lib basis. Concentrate feeding started off at 2kg/head/day and increased weekly by 0.5kg/head/day until bulls reached ad-lib levels.
During the finishing period, bulls were fed ad-lib concentrates and offered chopped barley straw to maintain rumen function.
Housing options
The 80 bulls were split into 20 groups of four cattle and randomly assigned to cattle pens with different flooring options. In total, there were four flooring options under test:
Option one: bulls were housed on concrete slats (CS) for the full 204-day period.Option two: bulls were housed on rubber slats (RS) for the full 204-day period.Option three: bulls were housed on concrete slats for the 101-day growing period, then moved to a straw bedded solid floor for the 103-day finishing period (CS and S).Option four: bulls were housed on concrete slats for the 101-day growing period, then moved to rubber slats for the 103-day finishing period (CS and RS).During the growing phase, all cattle were housed in the same shed. The bulls finished using options one to three remained in this house until they were slaughtered.
The bulls moved to straw bedding for finishing were randomly allocated a pen in a separate house.
The bulls remained in the same social group from the outset of the trial to avoid aggressive behaviour, caused by mixing of animals, impacting on performance.
Pen size
Slatted cattle pens measured 3.4m by 2.7m, while the solid bedded floor pen measured 3.6m by 4.9m.
Slats measured 12.5cm with a 4cm spacing which changed to 13.5cm wide and 3cm spacing when individual rubber slat covers were applied.
With four bulls per pen, the spacing allowance for bulls on concrete and rubber slats was 2.3m² per head. This increased to 4.4m²/head for the bulls on the straw-bedded floor.
Both allowances complied with the requirements of the Farm Quality Assurance Scheme, which were based on a 500kg animal.
Cattle on straw were bedded every two to three days, as necessary, to maintain a dry lying space.
Approximately 6kg of straw/head/day was used throughout the finishing period with the pens completely cleaned out twice.
Cattle performance
The different flooring options had no effect on daily liveweight gain and carcase weight over the set trial period.
During the growing period, the 40 bulls on concrete slats had an average daily gain of 1.37kg/day while on the rubber slats, the 40 bulls averaged 1.38kg/day.
During the finishing period, daily liveweight gain was not affected by any of the four flooring options as outlined in Table 1.
Along with daily liveweight gain, there was no major effect on feed intake or feed conversion.
Bulls typically ate 10.5kg to 10.8kg of dry matter per day during the finishing period with a food conversion of 6.64kg to 6.94kg of feed to produce 1kg of liveweight.
Carcase weight was marginally heavier for bulls finished off rubber slats.
But when factoring in age at slaughter, daily carcase gain was practically equal for concrete slats, rubber slats and straw bedding.
The bulls finished on straw had lower weight gains during the first seven days of moving on to the new bedding option.
This was most likely the result of stress as they were the only animals moved to a different finishing house.
Cattle cleanliness
Bull were assessed for cleanliness on five different occasions during the trial. Animals received a score for 70 different parts of the body, based on 35 assessment points on each side of the animal.
Bulls were scored from zero (clean) to three (very dirty) for each assessment point. Two people scored the animals and a total score calculated to determine overall cleanliness of the animals on the four different flooring options.
By day 50 of the growing phase, the bulls on concrete slats were dirtier than the cattle penned on rubber slats.
Likewise, during the finishing phase, bulls housed on concrete slats and straw bedding were much dirtier than those animals on rubber slats.
However, this evened itself out by the end of the trial with no significant difference in cleanliness scores between the four options.
Diet will be an influencing factor on cleanliness as will maintaining a dry floor for straw.
When bulls were eating ad-lib silage, the wetter forage would have had made faeces much looser.
When on chopped straw and meal, faeces would have had a more solid consistency helping to keep cattle cleaner.
Eighty dairy-bred bulls finished over a 204-day trial.Four flooring options during the finishing period.Flooring had no significant effect on intake.Flooring had no significant effect on daily liveweight gain or carcase gain.Flooring had no significant effect on carcase weight.Flooring option had an initial effect on cattle cleanliness.
What is the best flooring option when finishing cattle? Straw bedding was the traditional alternative to concrete slats but, in recent years, many farmers have opted for rubber slats.
Grant aid has made rubber slats much more affordable. Several flooring distributors report strong interest from farmers looking to purchase rubber slats under Tier 1 of the Farm Business Investment Scheme.
While there will be an undoubted improvement in cattle comfort, does the flooring material actually improve animal performance?
A recent study at AFBI Hillsborough looked at a number of flooring options commonly used on beef farms across Northern Ireland and their subsequent effect on cattle performance.
Over the course of the trial, the study found no significant increase in daily liveweight gain, carcase weight or cleanliness of finishing cattle.
These results would support previous similar research work on flooring options carried out by both AFBI and Teagasc.
The trial analysed the performance of 80 dairy-bred bulls from October 2015 to May 2016. The bulls were housed at eight months of age and averaged 224kg liveweight at this point.
Prior to housing, the bulls were grazing from June 2015 and also receiving 2kg/day of concentrates. Bulls were treated for parasites at three weeks post-turnout and every six to eight weeks thereafter.
The trial lasted 204 days from housing, bringing the bulls through to slaughter at just under 16 months of age. The bulls were slaughtered in three groups to allow for a fair comparison between age and treatment.
The first 101 days of the housing period were used as a growing phase before the bulls moved on to the intensive finishing period for the remaining 103 days.
Two diets were offered. During the growing phase, bulls were offered high-quality silage on an ad-lib basis. Concentrate feeding started off at 2kg/head/day and increased weekly by 0.5kg/head/day until bulls reached ad-lib levels.
During the finishing period, bulls were fed ad-lib concentrates and offered chopped barley straw to maintain rumen function.
Housing options
The 80 bulls were split into 20 groups of four cattle and randomly assigned to cattle pens with different flooring options. In total, there were four flooring options under test:
Option one: bulls were housed on concrete slats (CS) for the full 204-day period.Option two: bulls were housed on rubber slats (RS) for the full 204-day period.Option three: bulls were housed on concrete slats for the 101-day growing period, then moved to a straw bedded solid floor for the 103-day finishing period (CS and S).Option four: bulls were housed on concrete slats for the 101-day growing period, then moved to rubber slats for the 103-day finishing period (CS and RS).During the growing phase, all cattle were housed in the same shed. The bulls finished using options one to three remained in this house until they were slaughtered.
The bulls moved to straw bedding for finishing were randomly allocated a pen in a separate house.
The bulls remained in the same social group from the outset of the trial to avoid aggressive behaviour, caused by mixing of animals, impacting on performance.
Pen size
Slatted cattle pens measured 3.4m by 2.7m, while the solid bedded floor pen measured 3.6m by 4.9m.
Slats measured 12.5cm with a 4cm spacing which changed to 13.5cm wide and 3cm spacing when individual rubber slat covers were applied.
With four bulls per pen, the spacing allowance for bulls on concrete and rubber slats was 2.3m² per head. This increased to 4.4m²/head for the bulls on the straw-bedded floor.
Both allowances complied with the requirements of the Farm Quality Assurance Scheme, which were based on a 500kg animal.
Cattle on straw were bedded every two to three days, as necessary, to maintain a dry lying space.
Approximately 6kg of straw/head/day was used throughout the finishing period with the pens completely cleaned out twice.
Cattle performance
The different flooring options had no effect on daily liveweight gain and carcase weight over the set trial period.
During the growing period, the 40 bulls on concrete slats had an average daily gain of 1.37kg/day while on the rubber slats, the 40 bulls averaged 1.38kg/day.
During the finishing period, daily liveweight gain was not affected by any of the four flooring options as outlined in Table 1.
Along with daily liveweight gain, there was no major effect on feed intake or feed conversion.
Bulls typically ate 10.5kg to 10.8kg of dry matter per day during the finishing period with a food conversion of 6.64kg to 6.94kg of feed to produce 1kg of liveweight.
Carcase weight was marginally heavier for bulls finished off rubber slats.
But when factoring in age at slaughter, daily carcase gain was practically equal for concrete slats, rubber slats and straw bedding.
The bulls finished on straw had lower weight gains during the first seven days of moving on to the new bedding option.
This was most likely the result of stress as they were the only animals moved to a different finishing house.
Cattle cleanliness
Bull were assessed for cleanliness on five different occasions during the trial. Animals received a score for 70 different parts of the body, based on 35 assessment points on each side of the animal.
Bulls were scored from zero (clean) to three (very dirty) for each assessment point. Two people scored the animals and a total score calculated to determine overall cleanliness of the animals on the four different flooring options.
By day 50 of the growing phase, the bulls on concrete slats were dirtier than the cattle penned on rubber slats.
Likewise, during the finishing phase, bulls housed on concrete slats and straw bedding were much dirtier than those animals on rubber slats.
However, this evened itself out by the end of the trial with no significant difference in cleanliness scores between the four options.
Diet will be an influencing factor on cleanliness as will maintaining a dry floor for straw.
When bulls were eating ad-lib silage, the wetter forage would have had made faeces much looser.
When on chopped straw and meal, faeces would have had a more solid consistency helping to keep cattle cleaner.
Eighty dairy-bred bulls finished over a 204-day trial.Four flooring options during the finishing period.Flooring had no significant effect on intake.Flooring had no significant effect on daily liveweight gain or carcase gain.Flooring had no significant effect on carcase weight.Flooring option had an initial effect on cattle cleanliness. 
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