Cows take to a virtual world to acclimate themselves in winters

Like humans, cow’s also get affected by the winter weather, so in an attempt to make them think they’re in warmer climates, a farmer has connected his cattle up with virtual reality goggles.

Izzet Kocak, a farmer from Aksaray, Turkey brought his cows inside for the winter however wanted them to think they’re outside enjoying the sun and green grass.

To solve his dilemma, he fitted his cattle with virtual reality goggles to have them think they are in fact enjoying the sunshine.

Kocak tried out the headsets on a couple of his livestock after a study suggested the pleasant scenes make the cows happier which in turn leads to them producing more milk.

Obviously, it’s worked too, with output increasing from 22 litres to 27 litres a day.

Izzet has form when it comes to trying out unusual methods to make his animals happier and more productive. He used to play his 180 animals classical music in order to improve their mood and is apparently so pleased with the VR sets that he plans to buy ten more headsets.

He said: “They are watching a green pasture and it gives them an emotional boost. They are less stressed.”

The headsets were developed with vets and initially tested on a farm in Moscow.

Farmers worked with developers, vets and consultants at the Krasnogorsk farm near Moscow, to beam the cattle a simulation of a summer field.

The result revealed ‘reduced anxiety and improved overall emotional mood in the herd,’ according to the Ministry of Agriculture and Food in Moscow.

The hardware has been developed by taking a human VR headset before moulding it to the specifications of the animal’s head — so there’s not much point nicking one from a cow if you see one wearing a headset.

The colour palette in the software for the set was then tweaked in order to make it more suitable for the animal’s vision.

Cows’ vision is course much different to humans, as they can’t see red or green and only perceive dull shades of yellow and blue.

Source: Agencies