What happens when you hear your favourite tune? Maybe it’s just a little nod of your head while you’re sitting at your desk, or a finger tapping time on the car steering wheel. Perhaps you sing along quietly or even at the top of your voice? Or do you drop everything you’re doing and leap up to throw some shapes? Well, unfortunately, I am yet to see a cow dance. And the day that I do will probably say more about my own state of mind than the musical appreciation of said cow. So how can we tell if cows like music and why do they seem to enjoy it?
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Studying Moosic
Investigating how cows respond to music is not a new idea. In 1978 Wisniewski found that playing country music to dairy cows encouraged them to enter the milking parlour more readily. And a similar effect was shown by Uetake and colleagues in 1997, when classical music was played to cows approaching an automatic milking system. The interpretation in these cases was that the music was enjoyed by the cows; making them more relaxed at milking time.
Other studies have focused on production measures such as milk yield or speed of milk let down (the reflex which allows milk to flow from the udder). This is because animals experiencing high levels of stress will produce high levels of cortisol within their bodies. This so called “stress hormone” interferes with milk production and slows milk letdown. Less stressed animals produce lower levels of cortisol so would be expected to have higher yields with quicker milk let down. And this has been the case in some studies when music has been played.
Cortisol levels in the dung can also be measured and considered as a reflection of how much is circulating in the body. Erasmus 2023 demonstrated that cows exposed to classical music had significantly lower levels of cortisol in their dung; spent more time resting; and produced higher milk yields than cows that were not listening to music or those that had limited exposure.
Reggae or Rap
So, what is your favourite tune? From Mozart to Metallica, we humans have a wide range of musical tastes, but what about cows?
A study by Kemp measured the response of dairy cows in terms of heart rate, breathing rate and milk yield, as well as behaviour when music from many genres were played. This included country, rock, jazz, reggae, pop, classical, opera, rap, hip hop, lullaby and heavy metal. Overall, the results were inconclusive, but some trends were noted.
Most cows appeared to feel a little on edge with heavy metal music. And some were described as “confused” by rap. Country, classical, reggae and lullaby music resulted in most cows appearing relaxed and one cow even fell asleep to the lullaby sounds. Is there such a thing as too relaxed? The authors of the study concluded that slow tempo music seemed to have a relaxing effect on cows. But interestingly milk yields were also lower with these musical genres than in the control group who were not exposed to music at all. The authors speculated that yields may increase over time; if the cows were studied for months or years rather than just weeks. But do cows just prefer some peace and quiet?
The sound of silence
Over the years, as farming practices have intensified, farms have become busier and often noisier places. For beef cattle this is perhaps less of a problem as they will likely spend most of the year at pasture, in fields or on hills at some distance from the main farm buildings. Even during winter housing, they will often be in sheds with deep straw beds. And will experience little in the way of daily handling that would require the use of metal gates or handling systems.
Dairy cattle on the other hand are, in the UK, often housed throughout their lactation. (The time during which they are producing milk, usually over 300 days (about 10 months) per year). And many will be housed all year round. Whilst comfortably bedded these ladies live in an environment with concrete passageways, metal gates being used throughout the day, automatic passageway scraping machines running day and night. And they are often very near the milking parlour with all of its equipment running two or three times a day for several hours at a time. Add to that the farmyard noise of large tractors, tankers and machinery passing by. And even the sound of rain or wind on the metal roof and walls of the building; you can start to appreciate that there may be little in the way of peace and quiet for modern day dairy cows.
With their naturally sensitive hearing cows can find these constant and at times unpredictable, loud noises to be a significant source of stress
So perhaps the positive effect of music on dairy cows is more one of providing a consistent, predictable and more gentle sound to even out the noise of the farmyard, rather than a love of music itself.
A study by Crouch 2019 looked at 4 groups of cows; one hearing no additional sound; one listening to classical music (The Classical Chillout Gold Collection if you were wondering); one with country music (John Dever – Legends); and one hearing an audiobook (Harry Potter and the Philosophers Stone, narrated by Stephen Fry). Whilst behavioural benefits could be observed in each group hearing music or the audiobook; it was concluded that cows hearing no additional sounds demonstrated the most rest and ruminating behaviour (chewing and digesting food) indicating greater relaxation and productivity when the sound was turned off.
How does music make you feel?
In my opinion, one of the most remarkable observers of livestock behaviour is Temple Grandin; who has developed a particular interest in the humane treatment of livestock at slaughter. In a paper published in 1980, she related the observations of “a large beef slaughter plant in the southwestern United States” that trialled playing music throughout the premises at a level barely audible above the noise of the machinery. Employees believed that the music calmed the cattle and that they were less excitable when music was played. But Grandin also noted that the employees themselves enjoyed the music. And they “appeared to have a more positive attitude toward their jobs”. She suggested that this improved working environment had a knock-on effect on the animals by reducing human frustrations. And improving and calming their animal handling technique.
So, it seems cows do like music; perhaps on its own merits or maybe more to smooth out the background noise of their day to day lives. But when it comes to a milking parlour playlist, it seems equally important to consider the working environment of the farmer. And whether it’s Classical Chillout Gold or Steven Fry reading Harry Potter, cows appear to agree with Mozart; The music is not in the notes, but in the silence between.
For more information on The Effect of Music on Livestock, click the link for a great paper by Patrycja Ciborowska, Monika Michalczuk and Damian Bień.