Cows with names produce more milk

This is so cool from the list of big ideas in the NYTimes mag this year: Cows with names produce more milk than cows that haven't been named by their humans.

Now, as the article says, there may be other factors involved. Maybe the named cows are treated better, for example. But either way it kinda shows that lactating creatures who are treated better will be better producers.

That reminds me of the Milk episode of Modern Marvels that I saw a year or more ago, and I don't know if I wrote about it back then, but one of the things they said during the program was that the milk cows are given the best food and treatment because it's been found to help their production.

And I think about how we breastfeeding human moms run ourselves ragged. We get so little sleep. If we go back to work then we are especially burning the candle at both ends. Not to mention how hard the exclusively pumping moms are working. It's not easy. But we do it anyway because we know it's important.

If this is you, be nice to yourself. And realizing you are worth being treated well and making sure that you are treated that way just may help you produce more, too.

Comments

[Antropologa]

Well that makes sense. The body will put more resources into supporting an infant who is more likely to survive given supportive situations, thus encouraging the traits of the people who are supportive!

Nice idea.