Cuddling cows
OPINION: Years of floods and low food prices have driven a dairy farm in England's northeast to stop milking its cows and instead charge visitors to cuddle them.
Researchers described this idea on September 13 in the online edition of Current Biology. Researchers in Germany described how a small herd of cows in Germany learned an impressive trick. The cattle used a small, fenced-in area with artificial turf flooring as a bathroom stall to pee.
Each calf got 45 minutes of what the team calls "MooLoo training" per day, says Current Biology.
"At first, the calves were enclosed inside the bathroom stall. Every time the animals peed, they got a treat. That helped the calves make the connection between using the bathroom and getting a reward. Later, the researchers put the calves in a hallway leading to the stall. Whenever the animals visited the little cows' room, they got a treat. When the calves peed in the hallway, the team spritzed them with water."
