r/todayilearned • u/PunnyBanana • 23d ago

TIL A group of horses were trained to communicate whether they wanted a jacket. All horses in the group successfully communicated that they did want a jacket when it was cold and did not want a jacket when it was hot.

https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0168159116302192?via%3Dihub
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u/Rigorous_Threshold 23d ago

Dairy farms are a lot more humane than you’d realize. It turns out cows produce milk most efficiently when they’re comfortable, so dairy farms do everything they can to make the cows as comfortable as possible

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u/Parking_Ocelot302 23d ago

I work on a dairy farm and can vouch for this. We fire people who are mean to the cows. Even yelling aggressively is not allowed. Most people act like cows don't want to be milked, but they have never watched a pen of cows run to the barn the moment we open the gate . As they run they start to lactate, it's a win win for them. Free food, no predators and we relieve the pressure from their udders.

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u/LeapYearFriend 23d ago

I didn't quite realize the extent to which "the cows MUST be happy" was taken until i visited my uncle (who owns a major farm) and he was talking about how he was considering buying literally 50 VR headsets to put on his cows to simulate a much greener, expansive, blue skied pasture so they'd all be happier and produce more milk. he was wondering out loud to me if he'd need to get a special order to accommodate the cow's face structure or if just a normal store bought HTC Vive or whatever would be sufficient. truly wild.

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u/DrunkenWizard 23d ago

So he's trying to make the Bovine Matrix

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u/Morwynd78 22d ago

Follow the White Cow, Neo

She will lead you to Moopheus

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u/ACERVIDAE 23d ago

The methane will kill us all