Cows in Turkey enjoy VR headsets; owner reports they are more relaxed, milk yield increased

In Turkey, the owner of a cattle farm has experimented with virtual reality headsets on some of his cows to see if they can produce more milk. The virtual reality headsets create the illusion for the cows that they are outside in a sunny field. 

Developed in cooperation with veterinarians to ensure cow safety, these VR headsets were first tested in Moscow, Russia.

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The hardware is a standard human VR set, but it has been moulded to fit a cow's head. Once this was done, experts altered the colour palette in the software to make the VR headset more suitable for cows' eyes. The colours had to be tweaked since cows cannot see red or green.

A cattle breeder and rancher in Aksaray, Turkey, Izzet Koçak claims his cows' milk output has increased from 22 litres to 27 litres a day after using the VR devices on two of them.

According to Koçak, previous studies have shown that environmental conditions affect the health and milk production of cows.

In addition to walking his animals around the large pasture, Koçak allows them to listen to relaxing music with these VR glasses. 

A Russian company produces these VR headsets. 

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The rancher hopes to order glasses from Russia for all of his cows if all ten of the cows he's currently experimenting on show progress and the attempt prove successful.

The virtual reality glasses make the cows feel like they are in the middle of a field on a summer day, says Koçak. 

He said that in his business, the cows on average provide them with 22 litres of milk every day. However, when the cows wear virtual reality glasses, they can view a vast green pasture, and the milk average of two cows wearing virtual reality glasses is up to 27 litres. 

In Koçak's view, these glasses (VR headsets) are also emotionally beneficial for animals. He noted that they were less stressed when wearing them, and this is reflected in the milk yield, which is increasing in both quality and quantity. 

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A Russian business tried this, and the rancher came across it by chance on social media. In hopes of positive results, he decided to start with two cows. At the moment, they are in the trial phase, and they have ordered 10 more virtual reality glasses for the next phase. If they're successful, we will order glasses for all our herds.

In Moscow, VR headsets covered both eyes of the animals, but Koçak experimented by showing an image on one eye.