"It prevents injuries to cows that would reduce milk production," says Thomas Zartman, Myerstown, Pa., about his new "hanging" free stalls for dairy cows that hang from chains and swing freely away when a cow bumps against them.

Zartman introduced the patent pending stalls at the recent Empire Farm Show near Seneca Falls, N.Y. Each cluster consists of four 4-ft. wide stalls that are suspended at each end by chains that you attach to the barn's rafters. The hanging design allows the entire cluster to swing out of the way -- up, down, ahead, or back -- whenever a cow hits any of the stalls. A base frame with stubs welded to it hangs from the barn wall.

"It greatly reduces bruises to animals," says Zartman. "When a cow gets bruised she often doesn't want to go back in the stall. You might not even know that she's been bruised, but it can ruin her milk production. This stall design also greatly reduces maintenance. Over the years cows hit conventional stalls hundreds of times which causes the stalls to become loose, broken or bent. My hanging stalls 'give' so cows can't damage them. They're powder-coated and have a 20-year rust-through guarantee. They sell for a little more per cow than conventional free stalls. However, if you have a 100-stall barn you only need to save one cow to pay for the extra expense.

"The stalls are equipped with a brisket rail at the bottom that prevents the cow from moving so far forward that she hits her back on the stall rail when she tries to get up. However, even if she does move too far forward and hits the rail, it'll lift up out of the way and then drop back down when she backs out of the stall."

The stalls are also equipped with a bolt-on training rail that can be repositioned to make the cow back up so that she defecates in the alleyway.

Zartman also offers a 2-in. thick, 4 by 6-ft. cow mat made from shredded rubber tires. It weighs about 200 lbs. "It's softer than most conventional cow mats and can be installed individually for each stall. Other cow mats come in a continuous roll so if you want to replace a section for one stall you have to replace the entire roll."