Farmer: Cows on water beds make more milk

CLEVELAND, March 18 (UPI) -- An Ohio dairy farmer says milk production has gone up 20 percent in the two weeks since he installed water beds for his cows.

Farmer Bill Timmons said the $40,000 water bed purchase is on its way to paying for itself after the apparently grateful cows rewarded his attention to comfort with extra milk, The (Cleveland) Plain Dealer reported Tuesday.

"You take care of them," Timmons said, "and they'll take care of you."

Dean Throndsen, owner of Advanced Comfort Technology, the only North American company making the bovine water beds, said an estimated 150,000 of the products are in use on U.S. farms, and several thousand of the items can be found in Ohio.