Animal husbandry – Confining or housing – Stall
Patent
1995-07-18
1997-08-05
Swiatek, Robert P.
Animal husbandry
Confining or housing
Stall
119 285, 5948, A01K 1015, A01K 1035
Patent
active
056531958
DESCRIPTION:
BRIEF SUMMARY
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to an animal mattress which is particularly intended operatively to be disposed on a concrete or other hard floor within a barn or the like and on which, for example, cows may lie.
2. Background Information
After feeding cows traditionally lie down in the pasture while chewing the cud, and there has hitherto been the problem that during severe winter weather and other periods of inclement weather when the cows are kept in a barn or similar structure the cows are uncomfortable and are not contented when lying down on a concrete or similarly hard floor of the barn. Furthermore, cows nowadays are typically being kept permanently in a barn or similar structure irrespective of the weather conditions. With the view to alleviating this problem various solutions have hitherto been proposed to render the feel of the concrete or similarly hard floor of the barn more akin to that of the pasture. Thus, for example, it has previously been proposed to provide on the floor of the barn a bag of straw on which the cow lies down, but this arrangement has not been fully satisfactory since movement of the cow tends to push the straw within the bag from under the cow. In an alternative proposed solution a layer of comminuted rubber from used vehicle tires has been scattered on the floor of the barn with a loose blanket disposed over this layer of comminuted rubber and with the cow then lying on top of the blanket. While such a layer of comminuted rubber provides from the standpoint of the cow a degree of resiliency and feel which is very similar to that of the pasture this alternative solution again suffers from the disadvantage that movement of the cow results in the comminuted rubber being displaced from under the cow so that the advantages of the cow lying on the layer of comminuted rubber are no longer achieved.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
It is a primary object of the present invention to provide an animal mattress which is operatively disposed on the floor of a barn and which achieves the advantage of the above-mentioned alternative arrangement comprising a layer of comminuted rubber that the cow lying thereon has a level of comfort comparable to that provided by the pasture, while obviating or mitigating the above-described disadvantage of the previously proposed arrangements.
It is to be emphasized that an animal mattress according to the present invention is not restricted in use to cows lying thereon, and the mattress may be used for other cattle and horses to lie thereon. Furthermore, an animal mattress according to the present invention may also advantageously be used on the floor of, for example, a hog breeding area.
In accordance with the present invention there is provided an animal mattress comprising a fabric enclosure having a plurality of separate compartments within the enclosure. Comminuted resiliently deformable rubber material from used automobile tires is disposed loose within each of the compartments.
DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS
In order that the invention may be more clearly understood and more readily carried into effect the same will now, by way of example, be more fully described with reference to the accompanying drawings in which FIG. 1 is an isometric view of an animal mattress according to a preferred embodiment of the invention;
FIG. 2 is a sectioned view on the line 2--2 in FIG. 1;
FIG. 3 is a top plan view of animal stalls within a barn, animal mattresses as shown in FIG. 1 being operatively disposed on the floor of the stalls;
FIG. 4 is a sectioned view on the line 4--4 in FIG. 3;
FIG. 5 is a sectioned view on the line 5--5 in FIG. 4;
FIG. 6 is an isometric view corresponding to FIG. 1 of an animal mattress according to an alternative embodiment of the invention; and
FIG. 7 is an isometric view corresponding to FIG. 1 of an animal mattress according to a further alternative embodiment of the invention.
DETAILED DESCRIPTION
Referring to the drawings in which like reference numerals denote like parts, 10 denot
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Promat Ltd.
Shaw Elizabeth
Swiatek Robert P.
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