Liquid freezing and heaving the mats hasn't been a problem, but the material does squirt out from the seams under the pressure of the rubber tire scraper on a skidsteer loader. That's not a big issue when scraping forward, but to clean uneven sections of our 30 year-old barn we need to back scrape certain areas. When moving backward, the liquid sometimes squirts out with such force that it can hit the skidsteer operator directly between the legs. The prospect of spending 3 hours milking cows after drenching yourself in a sensitive area is not inviting. On the whole, I think the project has had a positive impact on the cows.
Hoof health seems to be improved, and the cows appear to be very comfortable on the rubber.
In retrospect, we should have done a better job of installing the material. We should have better prepared the concrete by evening out the high spots, probably by using the concrete planer to create an even surface. We also should have used our own labor to more carefully install the material the first time. I have heard that a similar material is now available in a continuous roll as opposed to individual mats. While the material would probably be harder to work with initially because of the weight, fewer seams should be a long-term benefit.