MUSIC MEANS MORE MILK

Manawatu Times, Volume 62, Issue 69, 23 March 1937, Page 8

MUSIC MEANS MORE MILK

Cows Love Caruso

“Fanners, instal loudspeakers in jour cowsheds! Your cow* will give more milk! ** That is a slogan which seems as il it ought to be uttaclied to a comic paper drawing. It is, indeed, not easy to explain that this is a discovery vkich should be taken quite seriously, the practical signiAcance of which cun* iiot yet be foretold, it is a fact that advanced farmers have been eugaged cu experiments of this kind for a considerable time. More than ten years ago a German thesis was written on the influence of music on milk yield, and was sponsored by tho milk economy scetion of the University of Halle. Then came reports of American experiments which sounded so startling—increase of milk and fat yield by nearly a third without change of feed merely by playing gramophone records during milking —that they gave rise to much shaking of heads. Now, however, there is a new foun* dation for experiments in this field. A diplomaed farmer and inspector of stud livestock, Georg Tartler, who has already produced a number of responsible works, has now published a book in which he gives the results of experiments with milking and music carried out over a period of years in various German model farms. Lengthy records compiled in accordance with all the principles of scientific accuracy show in actual fact an astonishing increase in milk yield merely through

playing gramophone records while milking. In addition to drily presented statistics, however, we learn many other intriguing things. It has been shown, for instance, that the cows which are most sensitive to music are those which have the best characteristics in other ways. The kind of music which affects 1 them most is easy to ascertain; they prefer heavy, slow melodies, and have their favourite pieces; one loved a Caruso record beyond everything, and another: “To-night or Never. ’* While one piece reduced one cow to a state of melting acquiescence and boundless milk yield, the same piece had no effect at all on another, and too frequent repetition produced dulled indifference in all cases. The author is seeking to ascertain the psychological causes pf these phenomena, which lead to interesting comparisons with the effect of music on human beings.