Got Milk? Want more? Ask Bessie…

Well, it’s official.  Giving your cows names can increase their milk yield.

I’ve just read in The London Times that scientists at the University of Newcastle in the UK were awarded one of this year’s Ig Nobel Prizes for finding out that cows who are given names produced a higher milk yield than those who weren’t. I laughed, too. But then it got me thinking.

You see, while the Ig Noble Prize ceremony is all rather tongue in cheek, there is a serious side; the prizes are awarded to research achievements that “first make people LAUGH then make them THINK.” While this research might seem a little ridiculous, it was actually a serious study into cow welfare.

Catherine Douglas, who led the research, said, “The whole study was about how stress and fear can have a biological effect on milk yields.” Of those 516 farmers involved in the research, over two thirds said that they knew all the cows in their herd and 48 per cent agreed that positive human contact was more likely to produce cows with a good milking temperament.”

Now I am sure that this will all just seem like common sense to most of our Animal Welfare Approved farmers, but the bottom line is that if you treat your cows as individuals – and if you treat them with respect – you get happier animals and better results. It’s a fact.

Buying them flowers, on the other hand, might just be a step too far…

REFERENCE: Catherine Bertenshaw [Douglas] and Peter Rowlinson (2009) ‘Exploring Stock Managers’ Perceptions of the Human-Animal Relationship on Dairy Farms and an Association with Milk Production’. Anthrozoos, vol. 22, no. 1, pp. 59-69.