Bovine Music Preferences?

I'm always being asked -"Are you going to play music to the cows in your parlours?"

Providing a low-stress environment  and keeping cows are calm before milking is one of the keys to maintaining a successful milking routine.

 If playing music to cows during milking in the parlour increased milk production - what kind of music would you play for a Holstein versus a Jersey?

Cows are kept cool and calm in the pasture before milking.

Cows herd themselves to the milking machines.

Units are properly attached.

 A cow can either produce a hormone which stimulates the mammary glands called oxytocin - we also call this milk letdown , the cow gets ready to milk.On the other hand the same cow can produce adrenalin  -if stressed or gets too excited - which then cancels the effect of oxytocin.

 Cows are managed post-milking.

Cows are grouped.

Milking units are attached within 2 minutes of start of stimulation.

 Adjusting units for proper alignment.

Now - for a dairy such as ours in Africa - I cannot imagine any of our milkers staying awake to elevator or "easy-listening"music while milking at 5 am.

Dairy cows milk to vacuum pumps noise and other familiar sounds - they are creatures of habit - Beethoven, Mozart and BB King will have to wait until I see convincing scientific literature to the contrary.