Across various meat production schemes, we are seeing that deadlines are approaching by which various farm standards must be met. For the Beter Leven quality mark, for example, 40 per cent of the slatted flooring for weaned piglets must be solid by 2025.
A range of solutions for your open grating floor
There are various ways to go about converting the piglet pens. For example, you could choose to create larger groups of piglets by converting the relevant section and using the feeding passage as an enclosed area. Another solution is to replace the open slats with solid floor panels. Both of these are major structural changes, and you will also need to keep a close eye on the barn climate. The floor panels cost between €60 and €100 per square metre.
The most cost-effective solution, which you can also easily carry out yourself, is to cover your existing slatted floor in the piglet pen with PE plastic sheets laid over the existing piglet slats. This is considerably cheaper than partially replacing the slatted floor with solid floor panels.
VERBA has various plastic sheets in its range for covering with PE sheets. Firstly, a plastic chequer plate 9 or 11.5 mm thick. Then, a PE plastic dimpled sheet 9 mm or 12 mm thick. In addition to this studded structure, a sheet with a very fine waffle pattern is also available. This plastic sheet also offers good grip and has a finer texture. Finally, there are also sheets with a 2 mm rubber layer over the studded sheet – our so-called Ekogrip sheet. This sheet offers excellent grip, even when damp. Like slatted floors, these sheets have a long service life, but it is not infinite. Wear and tear ultimately depends on the stocking density of your pens and the weight of the pigs. The thicker the sheet, the longer this PE plastic sheet will last. An additional advantage is that plastic naturally feels warmer than concrete or steel, so plastic is also a good choice for the comfort of your piglets.
Underlay for pig feeders or troughs
Patterned plastic sheets designed to provide extra grip, such as chequered or studded surfaces, are also widely used as underlays beneath existing feeding systems, such as long troughs for pigs or sows, or beneath pig feeders. This is done to protect the slatted floor (particularly concrete ones) from feed being gnawed into it, which causes rapid wear and tear. These underlay sheets can be easily secured to any floor using slatted floor anchors. Furthermore, when ordering feeding troughs, these plastic underlay sheets can be very easily combined with the transport. The base plates are placed on the pallets beneath the feed troughs, keeping transport costs manageable.
PE sheets in all shapes and sizes
The plastic studded sheets used to protect or cover your grating floor in order to meet the 40% solid floor requirement can, in principle, be manufactured by us in any shape or size. The sheets have a standard size of 3000x1500mm, so a size that we can cut from this is the most cost-effective. The finish is also important. We can fully chamfer the edges for you. This ensures there are no raised edges on which the piglets could injure themselves. Sheets with chamfered edges pose a lower risk of injury.
We can also fit the floor panels with heating, although the thickness of the sheets will increase.
The PE plastic cover sheets can also be cut, drilled and milled by yourself if you wish. They are easy to work with and adapt to the situation. These sheets are also ideal for placing under your pig troughs or feeders to protect the barn floor from feed being gnawed into it. We often supply these sheets alongside new feeders for this purpose.
You can fit the plastic panels to your grating floor yourself; if required, we can also Stainless steel mesh anchors be able to supply.
If you are interested, we would be happy to send you a sample of the various protective plates. Please contact info@verba.nl or call 0413-474036.
