Music and I’m not crying
The first night she laid down with me!
I have shared this photo with quite a few friends and family. It is a photo I took last winter. At the time, we were still back in Murfreesboro and Elizabeth was living in a small, 1/2 acre parcel, alone. I knew that many people were wondering why I loved this photo of what is essentially the back of a cow. Few knew how magically this photo was for me.
Every evening I would go over to visit with Elizabeth and as I took ownership I also fed her grain and filled her water. Both her water and her feed had to be schlepped from home which was no easy task.
While Elizabeth was eating, I would turn the now empty buckets over to use one of them as a seat. One night, I turned on some music and I could tell that she was listening.
Soon, it became our routine and I would turn on a special playlist I made for her. She would eat, get a giant drink, and then she would come over to listen to the music. One evening, she laid down right next to me at the fence line and I bawled like a baby. She had never laid down while I was visiting her before and it was a big indication of her trust and love for me.
Frequently, I would notice that she was almost nodding her head to the music and I found it absolutely fascinating. I couldn’t help but think how easy it would be for farms to provide southing music for their beef or dairy cows and how something so simple could reduce stress and agitation and even bring the animals some joy.
I’m writing about this today because I purchased a waterproof Bluetooth speaker which has a built-in hook (like a lock) by JBL. I’m going to hang it on the pasture fence and play music for the cows when they eat their breakfast. I’m curious to see if once again, they lay down to listen to the music. There is an equal chance that one of them will eat the speaker so it truly is an experiment. If the speaker makes it and the cows lay down to listen to the music then I will document and videotape this for YouTube with hopes that other cattle farmers will do the same. It’s such an easy, low-cost tool.
There is certainly plenty of well-documented research on music therapy and the effects of music on mood, sleep, brain waves, health, etc. Perhaps I can find some research on the effects of music on animals specifically.
This video is of Elizabeth falling asleep to music during an evening visit when we were back in Murfreesboro.