Twitter, the social media network that lets people know what’s happening in 140 words or less, sometimes seems so mindless even a bovine could do it.
In Ontario, a dozen milk cows send out tweets several times a day.
Researchers say the goal is to look at how technology mediates the relationship between animals and humans.
The milk cows belong to dairy farmer Chris Vandenberg of Buttermine Farms in Brant, Ont. Like many modern milking parlours, Vandenberg’s cows wear an electronic radio frequency identification (RFID) tag, with which they can communicate with a central computer.
Read Also
Man charged after assault at grain elevator
RCMP have charged a 51-year-old Weyburn man after an altercation at the Pioneer elevator at Corinne, Sask. July 22.
As the cow approaches the voluntary milking system, the computer reads the tag and either opens the door to the robotic milking machine and allows the cow to be milked or keeps the door closed.
In turn, the cow sends out tweets announcing her milk yield or that she is still locked out of the milking machine.
On May 6, a cow named Charge-Gina tweeted: “Hey Human, I just pumped out 17.2 kg for your pleasure. Show me some love.”
The same day, a cow called Attention Please posted several tweets:
“That robot still won’t let me in.”
“Fastest teat is my left front. It milked in 1.2 seconds.”
Other cows have posted similar tweets: “Dang Flies. Where do they come from.”
“Tried again. Wish I could read that robot’s mind.”
The messages on Teat Tweet will record how frequently the cows are milked, how much they produce and when they go off the milking line to give birth. It may also give non-farmers an insight into agriculture.
The Twitter feed is a collaborative project between the Critical Media Lab of the University of Waterloo’s English department and Ron Brogilio of the Georgia Gwinnett College in Atlanta.
In the year-long project, researchers want to study how technology has changed the lives of dairy farmers.
The robotic milking system has eliminated the traditional twice a day milking, but the farmer is electronically tied to the barn 24 hours a day.
