This one may have passed you by, but apparently there is a new TikTok trend of videos featuring farmers playing jazz to their dairy herds.
The idea being that – like all of us mammals of a higher intelligence – cows respond better when they have a good soundtrack in their ears. And something mellifluous like jazz or classical music could ultimately produce higher quantities of milk.
Talking to the BBC, one farmer, Charles Goadby from Nuneaton, explained why he had started playing the radio to his herd. “We installed a robotic milking system and there was a lot of new harsh sounds and noises, so we wanted to drown that out and give them a constant sound,” he said.
"This was about 10 years ago and somebody suggested the cows like classical music - that was the trend back then - so I put a classical radio station on for the cows to listen to and it just helps them relax a little bit."
Goadby cites the Pavlovian theory that animals can be trained through the use of sound (Russian scientist Ivan Pavlov famously trained his dogs to salivate when he rang a bell because they associated that sound with food). “It's waking up the senses,” he insists. “It starts their hormone production off, and actually the cows will release a little bit sooner and that milk flow will be a little bit quicker.
"It helps relax the cows and the workers - so that's a win-win all round."
The TikTok trend has focused on jazz, though Goadby suggests any sort of music would do the trick. "I think if you went and stood on the edge of a field like you see on these TikTok accounts and put any music on, the cows would come across," he said.
"They just want to be nosy and see what's going on, and I think as long as you're not doing anything startling, they're gonna come over and want to be nosy and have a look."
