File under “Things We’ll Never Know the Answer To.”
Do you think the noise of the bell starts to drive the cow a little crazy after a while? Do cows get headaches? Is a cow that’s fed up with her bell likely to give sour milk?
I know I’ve certainly had enough of the g*dd*mn cowbells right next to my balcony where I’m trying to read my book and have, instead, read the same paragraph 14 times. How does the cow feel?
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I think the cow gets used to it after a while. Perhaps you will too… :).
I once read an article about a scientific study that showed that cows who were exposed to classical music produced more and better milk.
Things that make you go muuuuuuuuuuuuuuu
heheh
nice blog!
Makes me think of that Saturday night live skit with Will Farrell & Christopher Walken … “Needs more cowbell!”
Noises are less annoying if you are in charge of them. This is why for example your windchimes are charming but your neighbor’s identical windchimes are annoying.
I therefore assume that the cow may be annoyed by it because she can’t remove it, but is not annoyed when she’s the one rattling it around, because she controlled that noise. Your cow-owning neighbor probably doesn’t mind it at all.
Try pretending it’s a record you put on and that you can take off if you don’t like it. That’s how I handle the windchimes of hell, anyway.
I don’t think the cows “think” much of anything. You never hear “smart as a cow”. I think they think “mmmm….grass”.
Having a cowbell is a bit like a seat in Congress, Pam. It denotes a certain dubious authority, and so, I beleive that the sound of the bell delights the cow as the authority bubbles to her head, like a glass of champange handed over by a well-heeled lobbyist.
The other cows, blithly follow along: GONG GONG GONG goes the leader! Through the fence, up the hill, directly to the best patch of grass, let the bellless cows find something else close by. GONG GONG GONG goes the leader!
Questions demanding presupositions for the silent cows remain. Do Austrian cows crave authority more and delight in fancier bells than their Amercian cousins, who often must take visual cues to identify the heifer in charge, and who, if they have bells at all, are tawdy light things compared to the Bells of Austria? If an American herd and an Austrain herd were combined which would establish dominance? The cow with the biggest bell? Those with the most intimate knowledge of the landscape?
Ah, one more thing to consider and a little known fact. When I lived on a farm, we also had turkey bells for the our flock of dim-witted domestic birds. Pam, don’t let anyone domesticate you, it is a terrible thing to consider how with modern breeding techniques, you can dumb anything down. Children of Congressmen be wary!
How unaware of me…to think I’ve never even pondered the cows’ feelings in all of this. That WOULD be annoying. 🙂