Talking to cows – a comparison of reactions to playback and ‘live’ talking during human-cattle interactions.

The quality of the animal-human relationship (AHR) and the affective state of animals can be improved by gentle interactions such as stroking and talking. During experiments, the use of a recording of the verbal stimulus might increase standardization but it might be perceived differently by the animals than 'live' talking, which is closer to practice. We compared heifers' (n=28) reactions to stroking while an experimenter was talking soothingly (’live’) or while a recording of the experimenter talking soothingly was played (’playback’). Each animal was tested three times per condition and results averaged to increase robustness. Each trial comprised three phases: pre-stimulus (baseline, PRE), stimulus (stroking and talking, STROKE), and post-stimulus (POST). In both conditions, similar phrases with positive content were spoken calmly, using long low-pitched vowels. All tests were video recorded and analysed for behaviours associated with different affective states, main variables being neck stretching (STR) and changes of ear position (CHANGE). In both conditions, CHANGE decreased and STR increased from PRE to STROKE (Wilcoxon test, p<0.001), indicating a decrease of attention and a positive perception of the interactions. When comparing the change from PRE to STROKE between conditions, the duration of STR tended to be longer in the live condition (p=0.066), leading to the conclusion that stroking with ‘live’ talking may be perceived as more positive than stroking with playback. The difference may be caused by the animals’ perception of the recording or by a change in the experimenter’s body language caused by ‘live’ talking.