This is a subscriber-only article
Many farmers will be familiar with the idea of cow water mattresses or mats, but things have gone up a gear in Denmark where a company have invented a self-heating and cooling water mat.
“We have two kinds of water mattress, we have one with cooling and one without cooling,” Klaus Nielsen of Stald Maglerne explained.
The company has sold 8,000 of their traditional water mattresses and their new cooling/heating water mats come with a 15-year warranty.
You can collect the heat of the cow from the mattress
The new water mat received one of the highest star ratings for innovation at the biannual Agromek show in Denmark, where over 500 exhibitors from all over Europe were showcasing their wares.
Nielsen believes his product can help to mitigate the effect extreme weather can have on milk production in Denmark and other countries.
“This year, we had a very warm period in Denmark and milk production, when it’s warm, will go down by 3.7l/cow/day, so we can increase the milk production with the cooling of the cow,” Nielsen said.
He also believes that the way the product works can be cost-effective to run and friendly to the environment.
Listen to "Self-heating cow mats" on Spreaker.
“When we sell the product, it’s with the heat exchange system which is included in the price and one mat that is 1m 20cm long costs around €300 and that also include the aqua-board, which is a water pipe in the front.
“You can collect the heat of the cow from the mattress so you can use this heat, so it will be better for the environment and of course you will have a pump to circulate [the water] so it will cost a little bit to circulate but you also have the heat to use.”
SHARING OPTIONS: