philip lelyveld The world of entertainment technology

Got Stress? Using Music & Virtual Reality To Coax Milk From Cows

Getting milked, it turns out, also leads a cow to feel stress. Things like the manner in which they are milked, be it with a machine or by hand, can play a role in their stress levels.

Like numerous farmers before him, Akgül unwittingly discovered one of the most simple and low-cost ways to increase milk production in a herd. Playing music makes cows relax. And the more calm a cow is, the more milk they’ll give up.
Knowing that classical music can help is a start, but are there other kinds of music that can also produce similar results?

Their results revealed that when slow music was played, the cows had the highest yield, producing approximately 3% more milk than when they listened to fast music or no music at all.

The Leicester study also identified specific songs that the cows either jived with or didn’t. Jams like “Everybody Hurts” by R.E.M., “Bridge Over Troubled Water” by Simon & Garfunkel, and “What A Difference A Day Makes” by Aretha Franklin were top on the list of songs that effectively helped cows reduce their stress levels and thus produce more milk.

One of the newest techniques for increasing milk production is the use of virtual reality (or VR) headsets on cows in Russia. According to VICE,  the new program, by the Ministry of Agriculture and Food of the Moscow Region, operates pretty much exactly as it sounds.

By transporting cows to peaceful places, farmers are hoping they’ve found yet another means of tricking their herds into producing more milk.

See the full story here: https://www.okwhatever.org/topics/wtf/cows-stress-relief