Got names?

• Position: SCIENCE - Namings cows - Brief article

Elsie the Cow may be more productive than Cow Number 145--and her name could account for the difference. A recent study of several hundred British dairies found that cows with names produce 6 percent more milk than anonymous ones. "The naming reflects the humans' attitude toward the cows, and therefore how they behave around them," says Catherine Douglas, the Newcastle University animal behaviorist who conducted the research. How farmers choose the names varies widely: Some name their cows alphabetically or after family members; in Britain, flower names like Daisy and Buttercup are popular. Dennis Gibb, a dairy farmer...