Tuesday, January 27, 2009

Cows with Names Make More Milk

Robert Roy Britt Editorial Director


A cow grazes in front of wind turbines on the day of the inauguration of a new $550 million wind farm project in La Ventosa, Mexico, located on the narrow isthmus between the Gulf of Mexico and the Pacific Ocean, 1/22/09. Mexico's President Felipe Calderon inaugurated one of the world's largest wind farm projects as the nation looks for alternative energy, in part to compensate for falling oil production (AP Photo/Luis Cruz Hernandez).

Researchers in the UK say cows with names make 3.4 percent more milk in a year than cows that just feel, well, like cows.

There seems to be more than just names involved, however.

The study, involving 516 dairy farmers and published online Tuesday by the journal Anthrozoos, found that "on farms where each cow was called by her name the overall milk yield was higher than on farms where the cattle were herded as a group," write researchers Catherine Douglas and Peter Rowlinson of Newcastle University. More>>
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