WEBVTT - BrainStuff Classics: Do Happy Cows Really Make Better Milk?

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<v Speaker 1>Welcome to brain Stuff production of I Heart Radio. Hey

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<v Speaker 1>brain Stuff, Luring vogel Bomb here with another classic episode

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<v Speaker 1>from our archives. We all do better work when we're

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<v Speaker 1>less stressed out and better taking care of And if

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<v Speaker 1>this applies to humans, does it apply to other animals

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<v Speaker 1>like say, cows? Today's question is do cows given more

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<v Speaker 1>positive interactions grow better and produce better milk? Hey brain Stuff,

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<v Speaker 1>Lauren vogel Bomb here, Let me take you to a farm.

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<v Speaker 1>They're nineteen whole stein calves push their noses over waste

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<v Speaker 1>high fences around individual pens. They're milling about in a

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<v Speaker 1>red barn the width of a soccer field. It's dinner time.

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<v Speaker 1>They're hungry, and they've just spotted their favorite person, a

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<v Speaker 1>farmer pulling a green wagon loaded with bottles of warm milk.

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<v Speaker 1>He lifts the bottles and feeds each in turn, coaxing

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<v Speaker 1>shy calves and hedging strong ones as their tails whip

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<v Speaker 1>and bellies full. The farmer rubs their necks and backs affectionately,

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<v Speaker 1>scratching behind an ear too. A stereo plays classical music

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<v Speaker 1>in the background, though it's mellow tunes are temporarily eclipsed

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<v Speaker 1>by the wreckless of the meal in its place. The

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<v Speaker 1>farmer offers a soothing monologue that settles over the calves

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<v Speaker 1>black and white coats. The farmer, Dean Patterson, tells us,

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<v Speaker 1>when you feed a calf a bottle of milk, and

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<v Speaker 1>when you rub him on his necker, on his back

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<v Speaker 1>and makes him feel so much better. He'll load the

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<v Speaker 1>empty bottles back onto his wagon and return them to

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<v Speaker 1>the milking parlor, which is housed in another barn. There

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<v Speaker 1>he'll wash the bottles and leave them prepped for the

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<v Speaker 1>evening feeding, but will continue to check on the calves

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<v Speaker 1>throughout the day. Patterson, a seventy eight year old fourth

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<v Speaker 1>generation farmer, is building relationships with these calves in the

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<v Speaker 1>same way he's done for a lifetime. At Patterson Family Farms.

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<v Speaker 1>As at most conventional dairies, calves are separated from their

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<v Speaker 1>mothers within a day or two of birth, then housed

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<v Speaker 1>individually and in age related groups, where they rely on

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<v Speaker 1>people for sustenance and affection. This connection between calf and

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<v Speaker 1>caretaker has been at the center of a research project

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<v Speaker 1>by the Institute of Animal Husbandry and Animal Welfare at

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<v Speaker 1>vetmad Uni, Vienna, a university of veterinary medicine in Austria.

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<v Speaker 1>Stephanie Lerzel and her colleagues studied a hundred and four

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<v Speaker 1>Holstein Friesian calves at a commercial dairy farm in Germany

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<v Speaker 1>from birth to day fourteen. They struked the next of

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<v Speaker 1>half of the calves for three minutes a day and

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<v Speaker 1>did not pet the other half of the group. By

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<v Speaker 1>day ninety, the calves who had experienced neck rubs weighed

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<v Speaker 1>more than the control group by a seemingly small but

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<v Speaker 1>completely significant three percent. This points to the positive influence

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<v Speaker 1>of gentle human interaction on animal weight gain. Researchers also

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<v Speaker 1>observed the quality of relationships between calves and caretakers through

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<v Speaker 1>an avoidance distance test. The test, which measures the distance

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<v Speaker 1>at which a calf will avoid a person who approaches

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<v Speaker 1>it head on, revealed these stroked calves had a lower

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<v Speaker 1>avoidance distance than the calves in the control group. In short,

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<v Speaker 1>the calves who had been given special attention early on

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<v Speaker 1>in their lives were less fearful and more welcoming when

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<v Speaker 1>approached by people. While these results may seem elementary to

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<v Speaker 1>people who have worked with animals, studying the emotional impact

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<v Speaker 1>of humans on animals in commercial production is an emerging

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<v Speaker 1>field that could have a far reaching impact on the

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<v Speaker 1>animal's environments. Previous studies have shown that when heffer's gain

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<v Speaker 1>weight more quickly, they go on to produce more milk.

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<v Speaker 1>For the calves. In the vetmad Uni Vienna study, their

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<v Speaker 1>three percent weight gain could translate into fifty ms. That's

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<v Speaker 1>a hundred and ten pounds more milk per cow per year,

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<v Speaker 1>says lerzel And. In two thousand one, a pair of

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<v Speaker 1>psychologists at England's University of Leicester demonstrated that playing soothing

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<v Speaker 1>music to dairy cows increased their milk production. Strategies like

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<v Speaker 1>this aren't new to the Patterson Dairy, where classical music

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<v Speaker 1>is played for cows and calves around the clock, says

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<v Speaker 1>Diana Lanier, who earned a bachelor's degree in animal science

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<v Speaker 1>production management before returning to Patterson family Farms to work

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<v Speaker 1>alongside her grandfather, Dean Patterson, and her father and brother.

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<v Speaker 1>Lanier said, there are a lot of things you can

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<v Speaker 1>do to make cows more comfortable and show them you

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<v Speaker 1>care for them. In turn, they will really better produce

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<v Speaker 1>more milk and to give higher quality milk. The more

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<v Speaker 1>you care for them, the more you get out of

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<v Speaker 1>that relationship. Today's episode is based on the article study

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<v Speaker 1>How's Grow Bigger, Give More Milk after early positive human

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<v Speaker 1>interaction on how stuff works dot Com Written by Laurie L. D.

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<v Speaker 1>Brain Stuff is production of I Heart Radio in partnership

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<v Speaker 1>with how stuff works dot Com, and it is produced

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<v Speaker 1>by Tyler Clay. For more podcasts my heart Radio, visit

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