Name A Cow, Get More Milk

An article found on Discovery News describes a new study, published in January in the journal Anthrozoos that has found that cows with names produce more milk.

Call a cow by any name and it will be more productive according to cattle behaviorist Catherine Douglas, of Newcastle University in the United Kingdom. Cows like to feel good and not like they are just any cow.

Cows with names have more relaxed behavior, and previous studies have shown that elevated stress hormones like cortisol reduce milk production by interfering with the milk-boosting hormone oxytocin. Anxiety also makes cows more difficult to milk because they stomp and kick.

"If you call a cow by name, it indicates that perhaps you talk to her more, perhaps you consider her more of an individual, perhaps you have more of a one-to-one relationship," said Douglas, who has seen firsthand the consequences of stress in a cow. "Personally, I have had a black eye and broken ribs from milking."

For the study, Douglas and colleague Peter Rowlinson surveyed 500 farmers around the UK about their feelings on cows--both their own and others.

Of those surveyed, almost half of the farms named their cow. Of the named cows, they were reported to produce an average of 258 more liters of milk over the 10-month milking season, or about an extra liter a day than cows without names.

Although dairy cows don’t produce milk until their second year, the study also found that cows that were treated well between the ages of six months and 15 months produced more milk later on.

The study reflects findings of how other animals respond to stress and fear and also has implications about how farmers treat their animals, even as farming becomes increasingly industrialized.