Impact of Music Played in an Automatic Milking System on Cows’ Milk Yield and Behavior—A Pilot Study

Marie-Christine Lemcke,Asja Ebinghaus,Ute Knierim

doi:10.3390/dairy2010007

Abstract

Practical experience suggests that music can have a positive effect on the welfare of dairy cows, which for some other animal species has been shown in earlier studies. Music could, furthermore, be a useful tool to support, for example, daily milking routines. In this pilot study we explored effects of music inside an automatic milking system (AMS) on cows’ milk yield and behavior. The experiment was conducted on a Finnish dairy farm with 56 cows in loose housing. Over two 2-day periods without and with selected music pieces played inside the AMS, data on daily milk yield (DMY), selection gate passing frequency (GP), milking frequency (MF), and milking interval (MI) were recorded. For analyses, data of 17 Holstein-Friesian cows were used. At cow level, mean values over repeated measurements without and with music were calculated, and analyzed by paired t-tests (DMY, MF) or Wilcoxon tests (MI, GP). During intervals with music versus without, cows passed the selection gate more often (15.8 versus 13.8) and had higher MF (3.0 vs. 2.8). No differences were found in MI (07:49:21 vs. 08:37:38) and DMY (36.5 vs. 37.0). The latter might be explained by a ceiling effect. Overall, the results suggest that the investigated sample of cows perceived the selected music as attractive and that playing music might be a practical tool to reduce necessary efforts of driving cows to milking.

Highlights

Dairy farmers’ experiences presented in specialist press or public media, e.g., videos on youtube.com, suggest that cows are attracted by music and perceive listening to music as pleasant
The frequency of selection gate passings and milking frequency were significantly higher during periods with music compared to periods without music
We were interested in whether playing this music would contribute to increased milk yields, more voluntary visits to the automatic milking system (AMS), and shorter intervals between milkings

Summary

Introduction

Dairy farmers’ experiences presented in specialist press or public media, e.g., videos on youtube.com, suggest that cows are attracted by music and perceive listening to music as pleasant. For example, it has been shown that music can reduce the immunosuppressive effect of stress [2]. Depending on the type of music, there were indications of a stress-reducing effect, for example lower systolic blood pressure and higher dopamine levels in spontaneously hypertensive rats [3], lower adrenocorticotropic hormone and noradrenaline levels in mice [4], or a lower heterophile: lymphocyte ratio in layer hen chicks [5]. Similar effects could occur in dairy cows and playing music in the barn or milking parlor might increase cow welfare and productivity by reducing stress and residual milk. Associations between music and milk production were investigated, with ambiguous results: Evans and Albright ([6] cited from [7]) found no effect of rock music, but a significant increase of milk yield when classical music was played during milking. Higher milk yields when music was played were noted by Moregaonkar et al [8] with

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Conclusion