From Dairy Yards to Deer Sheds: Recent Rubber Mat Work

Four South Island farms. Four very different jobs. From a dairy yard at Hokitika on the Coast to deer shed pens down at Winton, Numat rubber matting has gone down where the traffic is heaviest and the concrete is hardest on stock. Kura through one shed, OxMat through the next, a custom-cut pit mat in another.

Different farms, different setups, one job underneath them all: sure footing that lasts.

Cranley Farms | Hokitika

On the West Coast the concrete spends more of the year wet than dry. That is tough on cows, and toughest where they crowd and change direction. At Cranley Farms near Hokitika, the entry / exit and the top of the yard were taking that load every milking.

For Cranley, this was about fixing it once. The entry, exit and top of the yard were the spots taking the daily punishment, wet concrete, cows bunching and turning, the same load every milking. They wanted a surface that would sort it for good, not something to patch up again in a few seasons.

About 200m² of Kura went down across those areas, custom-cut to fit and installed to completion, so every mat sits flush with the next. No gaps for effluent. No lifting edges. No trip points. A surface laid once and left to do its job.

Underfoot, the cows get grip where the concrete used to catch them out, and enough give to take the jar out of hard ground. The mat carries a 10-year manufacturing warranty, so it sits on the books as infrastructure, not a running cost.

Leningrad Farms | Morven,Canterbury

John Harper milks at Leningrad Farms near Morven, where the herringbone bails had cows standing on bare concrete twice a day, every day. Hard ground under standing stock is where comfort and grip matter most, and where the wear shows first. He wanted it sorted properly, not half-covered.

212m² of OxMat went down across the bails, custom-cut to suit the 1.5m bail spacing and installed to completion. The cows now stand on a surface with give in it and grip underfoot, steadier through milking and easier on their legs. A fix made to measure and built to stay put.

D B Lundie | Pleasant Point

Anyone who has done a full season in the pit knows what concrete does to your legs and back. You are stuck in the one spot for the whole milking, twice a day, and there is no walking it off. That is how it was at D B Lundie’s shed near Pleasant Point.

They put an AirStud mat down the pit, cut to fit and installed to completion. Nothing flash about it. It takes the hardness out of the concrete so whoever is on cups is not hobbling by the end of the season. Sort it once and you stop noticing it is there.

Littleburne Farm | Winton

Deer and bare concrete are a bad mix. Get them stirred up in the pens and they scramble, and a deer that loses its feet on a hard floor can hurt itself in a hurry. That was the worry at Littleburne Farm at Winton.

63m² of OxMat went down through the deer pens, cut to fit and installed to completion. With grip underfoot the deer are not sliding about, so they settle quicker and are safer to handle through yarding and weighing. Hard concrete is rough on stock that spook easy, and the mat takes that out of it.

Four farms, four different jobs, one thing they all wanted. Not a mat to be replacing in a few seasons, but a surface that goes down once and keeps doing the work for years. That durability is what farmers are after, and it is what Numat builds into every mat.

Dairy yard, herringbone, pit or deer pens, if yours is due the same, talk to the team about what fits.

Rubber Mats Made Simple

We’ll call you back, book a farm visit to measure areas, provide exact costs, and recommend the perfect mats for your operation.

Talk to our experienced team and get the right solution in place.

All Farm Areas

• Entry / Exit
• Herringbone Pit
• Herringbone Bail
• Rotary Platform
• Cups On / Off Mats
• Loafing
• Dairy Yard
• Feed / Stand Off Pads
• Tracks & Lanes
• Underpass & Road Crossings
• Herd Home® Matting