Mats or NO Mats for your trailer?

I have  a question.  We have always put mats in our trailers then bedding on top of them, but it seems like we clean out the trailers less because of the hassle of the mats being in the way.  If you do a good job bedding down the trailer are the mats necessary?  Opinions please!


Joshua

I like the mats for grip because it seems they always paw down to the bottom no matter what. Just my opinion, but we use mats, then put a heavy layer of mulch on top.

We do 3" mulch on the floor then mats then 4"-6" mulch on top of the mats. Gives them a lot of comfort.

mats on a wooden floor aren't a good idea.. if you don't take them out to dry, it will rot the floor faster..  don't think mats and bedding both need put on.. we have one trailor (alum) with mats, and it works great.. our other 2 trailors just have wooden floors...  we use sand as bedding, gives good grip, but good drying ability. 

We have mats and I love them.  During show season we put down bedding.  I have used ground corn cobs which I love because they absorb a lot of moisture, but they don't seem to go very far.  I now put down mulch and then put the ground cobs on top, this seems to give the calves a lot of comfort and it is still relatively easy to clean. 

Josh- IMO you can't have too much cushion on your trailer floor. Shavings are cheap. Lame cattle are not. I'm thinking about trying the stuff that's on the cool room floor about 8" deep in my trailer on top of the rubber mats.

wildcat_ky said:

We do 3" mulch on the floor then mats then 4"-6" mulch on top of the mats. Gives them a lot of comfort.

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how do you get the divider doors shut with nearly a foot of bedding?

we usually  would only have enough calves to ride in the front part of the trailer so we would bed that heavy then put tack in the back half. also if you arent dealing with big bred heifers or stout fat steers you can use the door in the gate. the more comfortable you can make the calves the better chance you will get them to relax and lay down which is the great for longer trips.

Mats for sure! trying to load calves without mats in a Aluminum trailer is hard for us because itgets so loud and I think the cattle get on edge and they dont ride as good. Plus the added cusion is nice.

Do people really have that many problems with just bedding and foot issues? I realize that we just have wood floors and use bedding and have never had a problem, but are aluminum floors that hard on cattle feet? Seems like a lot of extra work to use both bedding and mats.

In my aluminum trailer i have 3/4 inch rubber mats that i leave in for most of the time. They are placed tight enough that you can barely see the cracks i only take them out every once in a while i normally have shavings or saw dust that i put down for long hauls that is cleaned out after each trip. the mats make cleaning much easier just scrape out with a grain scoop and rinse with a hose.

SeannyT said:

Do people really have that many problems with just bedding and foot issues? I realize that we just have wood floors and use bedding and have never had a problem, but are aluminum floors that hard on cattle feet? Seems like a lot of extra work to use both bedding and mats.

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perhaps this says something about the structure of their cattle?

Our trailors have mats, or sand in them for traction... not comfort.  Get quite a bit of loose trailor shit, and piss in there, and you get cattle falling down...  I would never straw down a trailor for the cattle!

I use a small amount of straw and no mats.  Here in Manitoba you can get a fine for not having your trailer bedded.

well the mats went back in today.  The comment about the cattle always working there way to the floor is probably the one that did it.  I bed pretty thick when dragging to shows but, it does always seem like there front feet are on the mats when we get there.  Thanks for the opinions everyone.

Joshua