- English
In early 2020, when the Van den Broek dairy farm installed a low-emission barn floor, the company also wanted a reliable system to clean it. Hans and Rianne van den Broek opted for three slatted floor scraper systems from JOZ. Hans tells us about their experience with the scrapers and the benefits of using them on their farm.
Dairy cattle and arable farming
Hans’ father started the farm in the 1960s. Hans joined his parents’ partnership in 1996, and in 2015, he and his wife took the business over. The company has grown considerably under Hans’ management. ‘If you’re standing still, you’re going backwards,’ he jokes. True to his word, by 1996, the farm had about 100 cows, and now if you exclude young stock, that number sits at 166.
Besides milking over 160 cows each day, Hans is also kept busy with arable farming. He grows sugar beets and potatoes, as well as the grass and maize that provide silage for the cows. Altogether, it’s a sound combination of activities on which the farm is thriving.
Saving time
This combination also means that the Van den Broek dairy farm already has more than enough to do, so anything that saves time is always a bonus! Just as well then that the three JOZ slatted floor scrapers that the farm acquired in 2020 provide useful time savings. ‘I used to shovel the manure with a self-driving manure scraper,’ Hans explains. ‘Now that the JOZ scraper does the work for me, I can easily save at least 20 minutes each day.’
Rope rather than chain
The slatted floor scraper systems proved to be the best choice for cleaning the low-emission rubber Meadowfloor. ‘We could have bought three manure robots, but I thought they were a bit pricey for us,’ Hans says. ‘So I opted for scraper systems. A chain scraper was less suitable for our barn because the rubber floor would be more easily damaged by the heavy chain. The rope system is much more suitable for this floor type.’
Hans did have to invest time in fitting and measuring when he purchased the slatted floor scrapers. ‘We needed an appropriate place to install the drive units, and the passages needed to be kept clear,’ he tells us. ‘But after a few adjustments, it fits really well.’
The result?
Not only do the slatted floor scrapers make the work of farming easier, manure is scraped much more frequently now on Hans’ farm. ‘And that doesn’t just provide a clean barn’, he says. ‘Now I can show that we’re removing the manure every hour and a half. That’s because the control boxes on the JOZ systems register this precisely. If you’re ever audited, you can simply show them the data.
And what about the cows? How do they get on with the scrapers? ‘The cows quickly get used to the scrapers’, says Hans. ‘When one comes by, they can step over it easily. The scrapers are very animal-friendly, and they help keep their hooves clean and dry.’
A sustainable product
Hans expects to be using his slatted floor scrapers for many years. ‘They’ve been installed here for three years now, and there’s very little on them that can go wrong,’ he concludes. ‘They don’t need much maintenance at all. You just have to grease the corner roller regularly. I can see these scrapers lasting another 25 years.’
Would you like to know more?
Looking for the best scraper solution for your barn? Please get in touch with our experts. They will be happy to inform you about the available options.
