HANDLING
By Debbie Furber
These mats woven from recycled tires are made to protect cattle from injury in high-traffic areas.
They have a mat for that
L
ittle did Dale Goetz know that his idea for weaving treads from old tires into mats to prevent cattle injuries in high-slip areas at the family’s feedlot would eventually become the footing for Double D Family Mat Shop as well. He established the mat shop in 1995, at first hand-cutting used tires to make antifatigue mats for work areas. After a time, things went so well that they leased the feedlot and set up the mat shop at Park, Kansas, where they now have three children working in the business. Today they use a machine Goetz invented to strip off the treads precisely and quickly, which are then woven together by hand and fastened at the joints, ends and sides with stainless steel hardware to produce sturdy mats that protect
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livestock from injury in handling areas. The sidewalls are now a mere byproduct given away as weights for silage covers. The standard Double D Cattle Mat is a heavy-duty mat woven from steel-belted treads for high-use areas where sure footing not only prevents injuries, but has a calming effect on cattle. A common use is in front of headgates where slips and falls are most apt to happen but operations use them in all sorts of places — alleys of all shapes and sizes, tubs, bud boxes, loading/ unloading ramps and in sales rings, says daughter Christin Merwald, who looks after the marketing side of the family business. The mats were lasting about a year at a packing plant handling 4,000 head per day; however, the company has been able to dou-
Customers now include packing plants, beef and bison feedlots, ranches, dairy, hog and other small-livestock farms, auction markets and veterinary clinics
www.canadiancattlemen.ca