Here’s and interesting news tidbit from Norway:

A new law came into force at the beginning of this year that stated that every cow in Norway had to have its own mattress to sleep on. This rather bizarre ruling from the Ministry of Agriculture is only partly about animal protection — there are sound economic reasons, too. If the cows are more comfortable, they do actually produce more milk.

It appears that, while cows do seem to be more comfortable on mattresses than plain concrete, more economical alternatives are available:

Respondents felt sand provided some advantages for cow comfort, while satisfaction with bedding cost and manure handling was higher with mattresses. Dairy Herd Improvement data showed no difference in milk production or somatic cell count for producers who chose sand or mattress?based free stalls.

Leave it to the Europeans to go for a new law, when the free market will serve better.