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A farmer treated her herd of dairy cows to a live jazz band in the hope that the music would boost milk production.
The Dixiebeats performed to both the Jersey and Holstein cows at Smithills Open Farm in Bolton, Greater Manchester, on Sunday afternoon.
The six-piece combo was invited to play after the owners had read that jazz music can increase milk production by up to 4% and wanted to experiment.
Their 30-minute set consisted of fast and slower compositions, which staff said was ‘moosic to their ears’.
Farmer Caitlyn Horrocks, 25, said: ‘The cows took a little warming up to, but they seemed to really enjoy it.
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‘They all took turns coming to the front to see what was going on.
‘One of them, called Peggy, loved it; she stayed right at the fence for the entire performance.’
The farm also invited the band after a video posted onto their TikTok – smithillsopenfarm – showing the herd listening to jazz music on a speaker, went viral with over 266,000 views.
Cows are known to like music, but a study by Vet Help found that cows appeared to feel a little on edge with heavy metal music.
They acted ‘confused’ by rap music, but were relaxed by country, classical, reggae and lullaby music.
Charles Goadby, a dairy farmer based in Nuneaton, told the BBC he plays classical music for his cows.
‘We installed a robotic milking system and there were a lot of new harsh sounds and noises, so we wanted to drown that out and give them a constant sound,’ he said.
‘This was about 10 years ago, and somebody suggested the cows like classical music – that was the trend back then – so I put a classical radio station on for the cows to listen to, and it just helps them relax a little bit.’
But he said cows appear to be curious about all types of music.
‘I think if you went and stood on the edge of a field like you see on these TikTok accounts and put any music on, the cows would come across.
‘They just want to be nosy and see what’s going on, and I think as long as you’re not doing anything startling, they’re gonna come over and want to be nosy and have a look.’
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