Here is the moos... clever cows vary their sound depending on their mood
TO anyone passing a field, one cow probably sounds much like another. In fact, research shows cows have different moos for different moods.
Scientists can now identify more than two-thirds of cows in a happy moment – such as when they are about to be given some hay – by their moo alone.
It seems cows have their own calls, probably so they can recognise and help each other.
Alexandra Green, of the University of Sydney, led a study on cow language, saying she wants to be a ‘cow-moonicator’.
She said: ‘They have all got very distinct personalities – you have got your chatty cows, you have got your shy cows. I have one girl, she won’t shut up.
‘I would like to say that one day we would be able to have a cow dictionary or an understanding of their whole vocal repertoire.’
Generally, if they are distressed about being away from the herd or frustrated after food is taken away, cows make a low-frequency nasal moo. This is also the noise of choice for ‘conversations’ with nearby animals – perhaps about the weather.
When they are more excited, because food is coming or they are preparing to mate, they make a louder, open-mouthed sound.
Miss Green’s team studied 333 moos from 13 heifers between June and October 2017 using computer software.
The study found 68 per cent of excited, positive moos could be matched to the right cow. It also identified just over 60 per cent of the more unhappy moos with the correct cow, according to the journal Scientific Reports.