Dairy race stabilisation with JakMatGeocell

Background

The Hinton’s have a 103 hectare approximately 10 kilometres west of Morrinsville on which they run 320 cows. They had two particular issues on their farm for considering the JakMatGeocell product system. One issue was the continual bogging up of their central race junction where the race exits the paddocks and enters the feed pad and milking shed (150 square metres in left photo below). The second issue was on the standing area on entry into the herring bone milking shed where pot holes and a ditch had formed at the meeting point of the race with the concrete pad (50 square meters in photo on right below). The laying system that Paul and Donna opted for was to use crushed lime, as they had had experience using it previously, preferring it for its sympathetic nature towards the cow’s hooves. The basic problem had been keeping it in place and preventing the old chip aggregate from migrating to the surface and causing the lameness. The laying was completed in February 2010.

Construction Steps

1. Jason Teague Contracting Ltd completed the first stage surface preparation with laser levelling allowing for drainage fall and the topping layers of crushed lime bedding (25mm), JakMatGeocell (43mm to be filled) and topping (25-50mm) that was to follow.
2. The total 200 square metres of JakMatGeocell was laid by Paul, Donna and daughter, three farm employees and a toddler. The cells were then filled with the crushed lime and roll compacted with the rubber wheels tractor. A further 20-50mm of crushed lime was spread over the surface and also compacted.
3. There is a video clip of this case study available for viewing below.
4. The complete laying process took a total of 5 hours and the herd walked across the completed surface at 3.30pm on that day.

Summary Outcome

The JakMatGeocell has now been down on Paul and Donna Hinton's race for a little over 4 months and the following the observations were made by Paul Hinton:

• “I have not had a lame cow in the 4 months since the JakMat has gone down, I would normally had 3 or 4 over that time."
• “We have just had two days of heavy rain and the whole area is standing up a lot better than it use to"
• “At this stage we are very happy”

Contact us to discuss how JakMat can work for you.