Comfortable cows are vital for a successful dairy system. Choosing the right cow mattress can have a significant impact on lying behaviour, herd health, productivity and everyday cubicle management.
For this dairy farm, improving cow comfort was the main priority when replacing their existing cubicle beds. After installing the Soft Mountain Mattress within the main milking barn and dry cow accommodation, our customer shared his experience of the installation process, daily management and the improvements they have seen since making the change.
If you’re considering new cow mattresses or looking to improve your dairy housing, this real-life testimonial offers an honest insight into the practical benefits of the Soft Mountain Mattress on a working farm.
Meet the Farm
This Intershape customer based Somerset, currently milks a herd of 180 cows, ayr/block calving and has been using robotic milking systems for almost 20 years.
In late summer 2025, the farm installed the Soft Mountain Mattress across two double rows in the main milk barn, as well as a single row in the dry cow shed.
Before the upgrade, the cows were lying on a solid rubber mat system, and the farm wanted to improve the comfort of their cubicles while maintaining a practical system that was easy to manage
“We were semi-worried when Chaz first showed us the 3mm rubber top cover of the Soft Mountain Mattress because when you feel it, it’s quite grainy on its own.“
“But as Chas said, ‘You put lime into that, that’ll all disappear, I will guarantee it!’ and he was 100% right.”
Why was comfort such an important factor when choosing a new cow mattress?
“Comfort was absolutely at the forefront of our mind.”
If the mattresses were going to cost more money, a few quid more money, this time I wanted to get it right.
I wanted to mimic something that was a bit more akin to the covered yard comfort or sand comfort, but there was no way I wanted to go down the sand route because although brilliant in the cubicle, your nightmare starts the minute it comes out of it.
So in terms of this mattress, I think you get a perfect balance between cow health and comfort, simplicity to clean it.
From your first conversations with Intershape through to installation, how did you find the process?
Over the course of that month or so Kev came up and fitted them and yeah, we haven’t looked back since.
From us making the order with Intershape, the timeframe was pretty much stuck to.
We were given the dates roughly when the product would arrive and then Kev, the installer, was in contact with us closer to the time.
“It was very straightforward and very seamless, to be honest. I couldn’t fault it.“
Ben and Chas and then Kevin at the actual point of installation – he told us what day he was coming and what time he was arriving and where he wanted stuff and how he wanted it to go.
We’d done our small bit in the morning and he cracked on with the job and didn’t leave until he’d finished that row he’d intended to do that day.
What has stood out about the mattress system since installation?
I like the fact that the top roll would go from wall to wall with no indentation in the mattress itself, so that it would make the daily cleaning of the mattress straightforward and simple, which it has.
“They are completely easy to clean.”
We use some cubicle bio-lime on them and our choice is chopped straw.
Sawdust would be a brilliant alternative to be honest because all you’re doing is just mopping up a little bit of moisture off of the bed.
We only go in once a day to clean up and re-bed and reset the barn and then the robot scrapers take over and the robot milking continues for the rest of the 24-hour period.
We use a rubber blade. Quick, simple, easy, almost a walking pace job to remove any muck off the back of the bed.
Has the mattress made daily management easier for the people working with the cows?
Dad was reluctant to come up and help do the old cubicle beds.
“But now, he’s 86 and he’s more than willing to clean off the new cubicle beds himself.”
The only ones he doesn’t want to do is the single row of mattresses that we haven’t yet upgraded.
So that says a story on its own, the fact that he’s prepared to do it, having not long had a shoulder operation himself too.
The simplicity of being able to clean those mattresses was top of our wish list as it were, selfishly.
“But actually what we’ve got now is a really comfortable mattress that is equally easy to clean for all of us stockmen and women all alike.”
What results have you seen since installing the Soft Mountain Mattress?
In terms of comfort for the cows, hock damage is no longer, we just don’t see it.
Lying times have greatly improved from what we had.
With the foot trimming and ulcers, we were getting a few ulcers and a bit of white line before.
“We’re getting the odd white line, but generally speaking I’d say not many blocks get used now and certainly not for ulcers, they’ve all been gone.“
“So lameness has improved and undoubtedly mastitis has improved for us significantly.“
Not that we had a major problem, but E. coli mastitis was our worst offender on the farm.
Clinical cases of mastitis was reasonably rare before, but I think now because of the lying times improving, the amount of stress that’s come off of the cows in being able to comfortably lie has significantly helped our herd without a shadow of a doubt.
Have you seen any changes in antibiotic usage?
It’ll be interesting because we’ve got our annual review coming up late this year, so it’ll be interesting to see.
But certainly clinical cases of E. coli for us was quite a big problem, that’s all but gone away.
I think there’s a huge weight between the slurry collector and the mattress, but the two put together.
We’ve got more confidence about using less antibiotics when we’re drying off cows as well because we know that we can keep that bed surface clean of bacteria.
Our choices in how many cows we’re not using antibiotic on has improved, so that can only be a positive bonus.
Have you noticed improvements in production?
“Yeah, last winter was steady but our fats and proteins shot through the roof.“
So in terms of rumination and lying times, I’m sure that definitely has had a better effect.
Would you recommend the Soft Mountain Mattress to other dairy farmers?
Yeah, definitely, even without the robots.
Even the dry cow run that we put in as well, we’ve seen improvements over there.
I’d say lying times over there has improved without a shadow of a doubt.
Final Thoughts
Looking back, what stands out most about the Soft Mountain Mattress?
“Been extremely happy with the Soft Mountain Mattress, in terms of comfort.“”
We went down and saw another farm down in Devon. He’d basically sold it to me within a matter of minutes of me being there.
The fact that the rolls go from one wall to the next wall, so regardless of your cubicle width, just meant that it was a total comfort bed, no matter where the loop was.
“Easy cleaning, easy daily management.“
Several choices of bedding that you can put on top of them.
Just for us makes an extremely comfortable cow cubicle lying bed, which is only gonna benefit us in productivity.
Improve Cow Comfort on Your Farm
Interested in finding out more about the Soft Mountain Mattress?
Speak to the Intershape team to discuss your cubicle requirements and discover how the right cow mattress can support cow comfort, herd health and easier daily management.
Click here to read AHDB’s guide on Dairy Housing and Cow Comfort.