Research at the University of Sydney has shown that cows maintain individual voices in a variety of emotional situations.
Cows 'talk' to one another and retain individual identity through their lowing.
Studying a herd of 18 Holstein-Friesian heifers over five months, Ph.D. student Alexandra Green from the School of Life and Environmental Sciences determined that the cows gave individual voice cues in a variety of positive and negative situations. This helps them to maintain contact with the herd and express excitement, arousal, engagement or distress.
The study recorded 333 samples of cow vocalizations and analyzed them using acoustic analyses programs with assistance from colleagues in France and Italy. The paper was published this month in Scientific Reports.
The conclusion of the research is that farmers should integrate knowledge of individual cow voices into their daily farming practices.
"We found that cattle vocal individuality is relatively stable across different emotionally loaded farming contexts," Ms Green said.
Positive contexts were during estrus and anticipation of feeding. Negative contexts were when cows were denied feed access and during physical and visual isolation from the rest of the herd.
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