This is where the Mayo Mat really shines – there is gas under pressure trapped within the matrix of the mat material. This is the secret to the mats firmness but also the secret to it’s softness. To fully understand the point here, imagine your car’s tire with only 5 psi in it. It would be a very soft spongy ride but every time you hit a rut you’d get a bone jarring shock. In other words, too little firmness is bad. We have set the density and pressure in our mat to work best for a large, modern Holstein cow. She gets a soft bed but with enough firmness so she doesn’t “bottom out” when her knee or hoof hits it. And yet the gas is compressible so it is not too firm.

The result of this delicate balance is a mat with superb shock absorbency, so effective that a raw egg can be dropped on the mat from about four feet or more without breaking. It actually bounces off the mat. Yet the mat is firm enough for a cow.