Animals communicate in a variety of ways. They have different sounds, scents, and postures that portray different messages. While communication occurs within a species, it can also occur between different species. Communication between species can have benefits.
Dairy cows face pressure because they must produce milk for their farmer daily. Research suggests that one way to get more milk out of anxious cows is to name them. Cows that have names produced up to five percent more milk. By giving a cow a name, a farmer gives her more attention, and treats her as an individual. A cow that has a name is more relaxed than if it is treated as just another number. If a cow is stressed, elevated stress hormones like cortisol reduce milk production. Cortisol interferes with oxytocin, which increases milk production. Cows that are anxious also stomp and kick, which makes milking harm, and could also be lethal to the farmer.
A study was done to show how a cow's relationship with people affects her behavior and milk productivity. On farms where cows had names, they produced an average of 258 more liters of milk in ten months. Also, if young heifers got extra attention at a young age, they produced more milk later in life.
Other studies have been done with other species of animals too. Nervous chickens will lay fewer eggs, frightened pigs grow more slowly, and scared trout eat less. By giving these animals more care and attention, both groups can benefit. People can communicate with their animals to give them a better quality of life.
Emily Crete (week 1)
original article can be found at:
http://dsc.discovery.com/news/2009/02/05/cow-milk-name.html
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I thought that this was a really interesting study. It shows how important social interaction is to facilitate health and increase productivity in dairy cows.
ReplyDeleteHow much more attention were the cows getting on the farm where they had names as opposed to the farm where they did not? Were the cows handled any differently, or more often?
Posted by Heather Gore
I loved this article and blog post! It showed a real interaction and connection between humans and animals. Reading this reminded me of the high school science experiment days where I wanted to play music to some plants and no music to the others to see the affect on growth rate. I can imainge a lot more effect on animals when it comes to factors such as music, love or personal treatment.
ReplyDeleteIs there a relationship between the happy endorphins released from the animal versus the production of milk? As in, is it triggered by something inside the animals body in order to create more milk production? Does treating the animal specially with a name and tlc trigger something inside the animals body or mind?
Posted by Amanda Lee
This is great! We all know that humans' overall performance declines when scared or anxious, but it is interesting to discover that in fact other animals react similarly. By naming these animals, it not only creates a more humane interaction, it helps farmers' output!
ReplyDeleteAlso interesting to note that non-mammals, (you mentioned trout) are negatively affected by stress.
This study provides external support (i.e. liters of milk produced) for the animal-human interaction argument. However, has there been any research comparing the glucocorticoid (stress hormone) production amongst these animals? Which glucocorticoids are higher in the "named"/cared-for animals when compared with the unnamed ones?
Additionally, were the humans' emotions assessed at all? How did the workers feel when working with "named" animals in comparison to "unnamed" animals? Perhaps the humans' relaxed/comfortable states were projected towards the animals somehow?
Great topic!
Posted by Ashley Paon
This is really interesting, but at the end you mentioned that chickens will lay fewer eggs, frightened pigs grow more slowly, and scared trout eat less, but you did not mentioned if given them a name will increase their productivity. I was also wondering if the name itself increases milk productivity or the fact that farmers converse and built some type of friendship with their cows? At the same time it is similar to humans, as supportive friendships increases longevity by reducing stress. Its great to know that different species can benefit each other.
ReplyDeletePosted by Vanessa Raphaël
Really good article. This is very interesting and I can't help but parallel this to human nature. Happy people are far more productive!
ReplyDeleteIt was interesting that giving names to the cows increased their milk production. Clearly it is not the act of "giving a cow a name" but rather the attention they get by having a name.
I wonder if this encourages large scale farmers to decrease the number of their cows and increase individual attention? This would decrease their cost while increasing the milk produced on a per cow scale.
You mentioned scared trout eating less and frightened pigs growing slower but do they to become "more healthy" (eat more, grow faster) with more attention?
-Jillian O'Keefe