Glorified Veal Pen Now Equipped With TVs

In an experiment to determine whether or not watching video of the Swiss Alps will make cows do their cow thing in a more efficient way, a Russian farmer

has rigged one side of his shed with 40-inch LCD TVs so that one row of cows can watch footage of the Swiss Alps, where the grass is green and the skies are blue. The cows on the other side are afforded no such diversion.

The farmer is monitoring his cattle to see if the TV-watching cows are more “happy and productive.”

Part of me wants to believe that this will really work, and that the cows will be more content. But another part of me-the evil, cunning part-thinks the farmer would be better off showing the cows pictures of the barn’s most productive animals. There’s nothing more motivating than fear that if you don’t churn out enough product you’re going to end up at the abattoir.