About us

Gerben Veldhuizen from Kootwijkerbroek (NL) specializes in making concrete floors in livestock barns safe and walkable again. Using a machine, he roughens up grates to provide cows with better grip.

At 7:30 AM, Gerben Veldhuizen drives his company van with the roughening machine onto a farm in Echteld, near Tiel. He prefers to start his work at 4:00 AM because he likes to cover the most ground in the morning. However, in practice, he often begins after milking, when he can prepare alongside the dairy farmer. The preparation usually involves simply moving the cows to one side and removing the manure from the grates and the raised edges against the stalls and feeding alley.

At 8:30 AM, at dairy farmer André van Ledden's farm in Echteld (GD), Veldhuizen had already visited earlier this year to adjust the smoothened grates where the heifers and bulls stand. The work and the ribbed result pleased the dairy farmer so much that Veldhuizen was invited back to roughen the 25-year-old grates under nearly 100 head of dairy cattle. A staff member from Van Ledden assists Veldhuizen with cleaning the grates and connecting water and electricity to the roughening machine. But first, there's coffee.

10:00 AM - The machine features diamond saw blades that can be adjusted in various ways on a roll. The hydraulically set speed determined by Veldhuizen also affects the depth of the grooves in the grids; the slower the speed, the deeper the grooves. Today, Veldhuizen is cutting grooves that are 3 millimeters deep and 5 millimeters wide. The ridges that result from this are 8 millimeters wide. Veldhuizen also roughens new (EKO) floors, particularly dense floorboards, because a smooth film layer of dry manure can remain after the manure is pushed around due to rapid drying, especially when the barn is not fully occupied and there is little urination. He often has to come up with creative solutions for this, as there is already a pattern in the new grids. Additionally, since the composition and properties of all concrete vary, each day requires a different approach from the small business owner, who has been operating for four years. Veldhuizen charges between 3 to 4 euros per meter for the treatment of floors and/or grids.

12:00 PM - It's time for coffee and bread. Gerben Veldhuizen works with a freelancer in the summer because he is mainly allowed to roughen many floors during the grazing season. In the winter, he also machines about three days a week, partly because large livestock populations are often kept indoors all season nowadays. Occasionally, Veldhuizen visits a company abroad. Recently, he was in Portugal for the roughening of concrete floors. That company requested wider grooves and wider ridges due to the amount of sand and the concrete composition.

1:00 PM - A mouse flees as the manure cake is being pushed from the side of a box. Veldhuizen uses about 80 liters of water per hour, so less than a cubic meter per day. If he used more water, the discs would cool down too hard and wear out quickly. If he uses less water, dust will form in the stable. On average, depending on the depth, Veldhuizen plows about 40 square meters per hour. Veldhuizen prefers to work on newer floors, which helps prevent accidents with slipping cattle. Roughening grids where cows have already fallen has the advantage (for Veldhuizen) that the farmer himself is also really aware of the necessity of Veldhuizen's work.

2:00 PM - The last cutting job is in sight. Chiseling, sandblasting, and the new flaming to roughen floors are not part of the package that Veldhuizen offers. Veldhuizen finds it quite nice that he occasionally saws a guide slot for a manure scraper, although he calls it 'a lot of fiddling' compared to the pleasure of simply making meters. Veldhuizen will be done with the cutting at 3:00 PM, after which there will be another hour of packing up and cleaning the cables and machines. The grates can last another 15 years!