Name your milk cow, get more milk

If you’re going to be milking a cow, you might want to be on a first-name basis. In The New York Times‘ Ninth Annual Year in Ideas, Pat Walters looks at a recent study that suggests cows with names produce more milk.

The research involved several hundred dairy farmers in Britain. Those who gave names to members of their herds had a 6 percent bump in milk production. Fat City decided to ask Donna Allen Wood, who writes about her Jersey cow Bessie Bonnie and life in Missouri on her blog, Just Me, if names might make a difference. 

“I think in a commercial dairy situation, feed would have more to do with it,” said Wood.