Rubber flooring with a slope for dry walking areas

Healthy and dry hooves
carry the milk!

Modern barn housing relies on drier walking areas thanks to rubber flooring with a slope.
For better hoof health, mobile and productive cows.

Healthy, intact skin in the hoof area is the most important protection against infectious hoof diseases (especially digital dermatitis, interdigital phlegmon “panaritium”). It is, therefore, essential to keep the walking areas – and the hooves – as dry and as clean as possible. This works best when liquids are drained quickly from the walking alley by means of a slope. A smooth surface also aids drainage. However, if not drained properly, the cows soon start to slip on hard floors.

In contrast, soft rubber flooring ensures the necessary sure-footedness and helps improve the well-being, health and productivity of dairy cows. The naturally longer outer claws can sink in on soft floors. This results in optimal pressure distribution and a demonstrable reduction in mechanical-traumatic hoof diseases.

A rapid separation of feces and urine promotes barn hygiene and helps to reduce emissions. Emission-reducing rubber flooring is, therefore, eligible for support in various countries.

At least 3 % slope for maximum walking comfort!

More cleanliness and health for dairy cows. Less costs and work for farmers.

Advantages for cows:

Increased cleanliness due to dry walking areas
Improved hoof health through pressure relief
Less bacterial load
Animal-friendly softness when standing and walking
Reduced risk of injury due to slip resistance and sure-footedness
Lower-ranking cows can easily move out of the way

Advantages for farmers:

Greater milk yield due to increased animal activity
Easy retrofit option
Lower veterinary costs
Reduced stock replacement costs
Improved fertility
Less emissions through the rapid separation of feces and urine

Slip resistance in the dairy barn

Corundum makes it possible

Walking alleys are often made more slip resistant with grooves and various milled grooves. However, these sharp-edged milled grooves are poison for the hooves, especially with concrete floors. Instead, rubber mats provide slip resistance by allowing the hooves to sink in naturally. To further enhance system safety, we embed corundum grains into the surface of our profi mats. This combination of the hooves sinking in and corundum is durable and unbeatably slip resistant, even with smear layers. At the same time, it is hoof friendly and relieves the pressure on hooves. The corundum also ensures optimized hoof abrasion. This is the only way to achieve maximum mobility for your cows – which in turn is the basis for healthy animals!

Our walking alley mats with a slope - fit for the next generation

profiKURA 3D is wedge shaped, creating a slope of around 3 % towards the center of the walking alley. Liquids are thus drained quickly and reliably. This ensures dry hooves and helps support hoof health. Additionally, the ammonia release is reduced. A 44 % reduction in ammonia is achieved with profiKURA 3D¹⁾²⁾.

A similar effect can be achieved with a concreted 3 % slope and profiKURA P covering²⁾³⁾.

Our profiDRAIN is the right solution for all fans of drain channel mats. The gently curved walking surfaces with a slope to the drain channels are animal-friendly soft and feature light profiling. The walking surfaces dry quickly, and a 61 % reduction in ammonia is achieved⁴⁾.

KURA SB or espaFLEX are used in barns with slatted floors. With KURA SB, the curved surface with a slope towards the slit facilitates liquid drainage, allowing for faster drying. Ammonia emissions can thus be reduced by up to 38 % ³⁾.

Brand new and recently awarded the DLG Innovation Award 2024 in silver is our emission-reducing slatted flooring espaFLEX. With a 3 % slope on both sides from the center of the mat to the edges, it ensures reliable drainage – regardless of the position, number and size of the slits. Liquids are drained quickly and variable slit reduction is easily possible. This allows walking areas to dry quickly and reduces the release of ammonia.

profiKURA 3D Wedge-shaped mat with 3 % slope

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profiKURA P For walking alley with concreted slope

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profiDRAIN Drain channel mat

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KURA SB Curved surface - with slope towards the slit

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espaFLEX 3 % slope on both sides and variable slit reduction

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¹⁾44 % mean value, 78 % maximum value (compared to a concrete floor with rubber covering and a 1 % slope); data source: ANECO, results report number: 70198-001 of May 2, 2024

²⁾Monteny Milieu Advies, August 2021: Model-based assessment of the reduction potential for NH3-emission of the innovative solid floor KRAIBURG – profiKURA 3D, based on, among others, Zähner et al., 2017

³⁾KTBL, 2024: Förderfähige Techniken zur Emissionsminderung in Stallbauten ("Eligible techniques for reducing emissions in livestock buildings")

⁴⁾61 % mean value, 70 % maximum value (compared to a level concrete floor); data source: ANECO, results report number: 70198-002 of May 16, 2024

profiKURA P on paved walking alley with cross slope towards the central guide

"The cross slope to the central guide is a simple and clean system! Because the surface is not deeply profiled, a very good cleaning result can be achieved with the scraper. The profiKURA surface also gives the cows a very good grip."

Ober farm, Burgkirchen, Germany

More customer examples

Dirty walking alleys? A pool of slurry in front of the scraper?

Walking areas with a slope offer the solution!

Walking areas with KRAIBURG profiKURA 3D mats are significantly drier. Urine is drained directly due to the slope to the central guide. This also reduces the well-known “pool of slurry” in front of the scraper. On the 3D mat, the scraper collects significantly less material, which is also drier. This much is clear: The drier the floor, the healthier the hooves.

"Personally, one of the main advantages of the profiKURA 3D is that no pools of slurry form in front of the scraper since the urine drains quickly into the scraper channel."

Anton Spieß

Hoof problems? Slippery walking areas?

Healthier dairy cows and optimized cow traffic thanks to soft walking areas

Farmer Irina Primbs shares her real-world experiences with rubber mats in the walking alleys and explains the advantages for her 100 dairy cows in the robot barn. Initially, only the feeding alley was covered with rubber mats, but recently, the walking areas in the entire barn have been retrofitted. Since then, she has been convinced of the positive effect of soft walking areas on the hoof health, productivity and well-being of the cows.