Slotted floors: description, types, do-it-yourself installation

2024 Author: Howard Calhoun | [email protected]. Last modified: 2024-01-07 20:55

Raising pigs on farms is technologically quite complicated. In order for such animals to gain weight well and not get sick, they need to create good conditions for keeping. To ensure cleanliness in pig rooms, special slatted floors are often installed. Such designs, if desired, can be purchased ready-made. It will be easy to make such a coating yourself.

What are slatted floors: Description

When using such a coating, the farmer has the opportunity to establish an automatic manure removal system in the pigsty. Feces of piglets fall through the floor with cracks in special tubs. During cleaning, in such receivers, the cork is simply removed and the manure is washed off into the outlet line (similar to the toilet bowl). From the pipe, feces enter a special receiver, from which they are then pumped into the tanks of sewage trucks.

Main varieties

By design, slatted floors are one hundred percent and partial. The most convenient type of such coatings is, of course, the first one. Usingcompletely slotted structures, manure is guaranteed to fall into the bath in full.

According to the type of material used for the manufacture of such coatings are divided into:

• wooden;
• concrete;
• plastic;
• metal.

Wood and plastic floors

Coatings of this type are usually installed only in very small pigsties. At the same time, most often the owners of such farms make wooden slatted floors on their own. Plastic coatings of this variety are sold ready-made. Such floors are made on special industrial equipment. On trusses, roofs of this type are assembled from separate slotted sections of a small area.

Metal structures

In some cases, pig slatted floors can be made from galvanized iron or even cast iron. This is not the most common and popular type of coating. However, sometimes in pigsties, such structures are still mounted. Their main advantage is, of course, strength and durability. Metal floors on a farm can last as long as the building of the pigsty itself will exist.

Concrete structures

This type of slatted floor is very often installed in large pig farms. Concrete pavements of this type, in turn, are classified according to the degree of maximum allowable load. On very large farms with hugelivestock are installed, respectively, and the most durable expensive floors of this variety. In smaller complexes, invested slotted structures are most often mounted. These floors are cheaper and easier to install. They are made from not too high grades of concrete.

There is also a combined variety of slatted floors. In this case, the floor itself is a strong and durable concrete slab. The slotted part is made of metal, plastic or even wood.

Can I do it myself

Large and medium-sized farms, of course, it is better to buy slatted floors ready-made. In any case, such expenses on large farms will quickly pay off in the future. In private small farms (up to 50 heads), it is certainly better to equip such floors on your own. Of course, in this case, the automatic manure removal system itself will also be easy to do with your own hands.

Main steps

Includes the technology of arranging automatic manure removal in a pigsty, the following basic steps:

• Digging a trench for the outlet line.
• Installation of inlet drain pipes.
• Filling tubs.
• Installation of the slatted floor itself.

Materials and tools

It is recommended to use pipes with a diameter of 300 mm for the discharge line in the manure removal system. In any case, their cross section should not be less than 250 mm. A smaller diameter line will most likely clog periodically in the future.

In addition to pipes, to equip such a system in a pigsty you will need:

• cement grade M400;
• river sand;
• reinforcing bars;
• insulation.

Also, the owner of the pigsty will need to purchase plugs for pull/lower necks. Of the tools you will need:

• shovels;
• garden cart;
• concrete mixer;
• Puncher, etc.

Digging trenches and laying highways

Of course, it is best to equip the manure removal system even at the stage of construction of the pigsty itself - before the walls and even the foundation are erected. A trench for the outlet line of such a network is laid with a slope towards the manure receiver of 5 mm by 1 cm. That is, for a 20 m pipe, this figure should be 10 cm. An air valve is located at the opposite end of the manure receiver. The presence of such an element in the future will greatly facilitate the draining and removal of manure.

Pipes are pre-insulated before being laid in a trench dug with a slope. For this purpose, you can, for example, use mineral wool. Slag is also not bad for warming the outlet line of the manure removal system. In any case, it is necessary to isolate the pipe from the cold. Otherwise, in the winter season, ice plugs may form in it, which will causefailure of the entire system.

Fixing necks

The device of slatted floors in the pigsty is necessary first of all in order to facilitate the work of cleaning the machines. After the installation of such a coating, manure will fall down and, when the plug is opened, go into the pipe. To ensure such a withdrawal, it is necessary to make receiving necks for each bathtub in the line.

That is, before proceeding with the insulation of the pipe and filling it with earth, you must first make holes for the drain in it. The placement of the latter should be calculated very carefully. Otherwise, in the future, when assembling the manure removal network, problems may arise with the installation of bathtubs.

Drilling holes in a plastic line is easiest with a jigsaw. The necks themselves are inserted into them according to the level. The plastic is pre-degreased. You can fix the drain necks in the holes with silicone or, for example, PVC glue.

Installation of bathtubs

Such designs, if desired, can be purchased ready-made plastic. Factory containers of this type are relatively inexpensive. But you can, of course, pour such baths with your own hands from concrete. Of course, it is necessary to make such structures in such a way that the manure subsequently easily merges into the necks by gravity. For example, bathtubs can be given a pyramidal shape (top down). When pouring such structures, of course, you need to use, among other things, reinforcement.

Of course, under the flooryou can equip and just a common large receiver for manure. However, experienced farmers still advise pouring a separate bath under each machine to collect feces. In the future, this will prevent the spread of various kinds of infections between individual pens on the farm. That is, filling individual bathtubs will become additional protection against outbreaks in the pigsty of epidemics.

Filling floors

Once the baths are ready, continue with the standard pigsty building process. That is, a concrete screed is poured with a slope towards the baths. At the same time, gratings are placed above the receiving containers themselves. Such items can also be purchased ready-made. It will also be easy to make gratings with your own hands from metal or wood. For example, quite often such elements are welded from a steel angle when installing a manure removal system.

Wooden lattices on farms are knocked together from thick planks. This option is the cheapest, but also the most short-lived. Pigs are known to love to gnaw on all kinds of structures in the room in which they are kept. And wooden grills can be a very attractive option for them in this regard.

Vault

As soon as the installation of slatted floors with your own hands is completed, you can begin to equip the receiver. A good solution would be to adapt, for example, some very large metal container for this purpose. It is also possible to bring the outlet line into a well lined with concrete rings. Quite often, simple receivers are also equipped on farms -pits with concrete walls and floors. In any case, the manure well next to the pigsty must be waterproofed. This will prevent subsequent penetration of feces into groundwater. Of course, the receiver must be equipped in a place where a sewage truck can easily drive up to it.