cows

(Photo by WILLIAM WEST/AFP via Getty Images)

Economy

Indicators of the Week: Debate Edition

6:49pm June 28, 2024

Indicators of the Week is BACK! This week we're doing something just a little bit different. You see, it's the same 'ol Indicators of the Week you're used to, but as a nod to last night's presidential debate, this time, it's debate style.

On today's episode, your candidates argue over who has the best Indicator of the Week: the links discovered between health care prices and layoffs, stress-tested banks, and ... cow burps?

Related Episodes:
Time to make banks more stressed?
The Cows Are Taking All The Land

For sponsor-free episodes of The Indicator from Planet Money, subscribe to Planet Money+ via Apple Podcasts or at plus.npr.org.

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The U.S. Department of Agriculture says cows in multiple states have tested positive for bird flu.

What the CDC is doing to monitor and protect against bird flu

4:20pm April 03, 2024

CDC director Dr. Mandy Cohen tells NPR that while the risk of bird flu spreading to humans is low, the U.S. government is taking precautions to avoid spread of the virus.

Farmer Wilbert van der Post is worried that the Dutch government's new nitrogen reduction rules will force him, a fourth-generation farmer, out of business. He plans to vote for the Farmer-Citizens Movement, known in the Netherlands by its acronym, BBB, on election day in November.

World News

In the Netherlands, a farmers party taps into widespread discontent with government

5:13am September 21, 2023

by Rob Schmitz

What began as a movement of farmers opposed to environmental rules is now one of the country's dominant political parties. The nation's agricultural exports are second only to the United States.

Alicia Day, 34, of New York City, was detained by Russian police while walking her pet baby cow, Dr. Calf, on Red Square last month.

World News

An American walked her pet cow in Moscow's Red Square. Spoiler alert: Trouble ensued

6:00am March 04, 2023

by Charles Maynes

Animal rights activist Alicia Day says she routinely walks her farm animals in public to encourage people to think twice about eating meat. Why she chose to do so in the center of Moscow isn't clear.

Wild boar Frieda eats next to a cow Thursday in a pasture in Holzminden, Germany.

World News

A piglet left behind by its herd finds a new family with some cattle

12:21pm September 30, 2022

by The Associated Press

Wild boars have a reputation for destruction, but farmer Friedrich Stapel told a news agency that he can't bear to chase away the piglet, which he's named Frieda. It'll winter with his mother cows.

A farmer in a pasture circa 1945 appears to get his cow cuddles for free. These days, it could cost him.

Health & Safety

Opinion: The Comfort of Cow Cuddles

2:17pm March 13, 2021

by Scott Simon

Americans are paying $75 an hour to hug a cow. The bovine cuddles can boost oxytocin levels in humans.

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Dairy farmer Dominique Rochat says the Swiss government's water deliveries have allowed him to keep his cows in the high mountains.

World News

High And Dry: Swiss Army Airlifts Water To Cows In Drought-Stricken Mountains

5:24pm September 11, 2018

by Eleanor Beardsley

Water scarcity and heat are threatening two of Switzerland's main agricultural products: milk and cheese. But the shortage affects far more than cows — Swiss glaciers also feed Europe's major rivers.

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The way cows digest food takes a lot of energy and generates a lot of heat. This makes them lose their appetite and produce less milk.

As Milk Production Cools In Summer, Farmers Try To Help Cows Take The Heat

8:15am July 21, 2018

by Mose Buchele

From fans and misting water to creating a whole new breed of cow, farmers and researchers are fighting rising temperatures to keep the dairy industry from losing millions of dollars to "heat stress."

Researchers at the University of California, Davis are testing whether adding seaweed to cows' feed reduces methane emissions.

Surf And Turf: To Reduce Gas Emissions From Cows, Scientists Look To The Ocean

4:56pm July 03, 2018

by Merrit Kennedy

When cows burp, they emit the potent greenhouse gas methane into the atmosphere. But by adding seaweed to the cows' diets, researchers are noticing a dramatic reduction in methane production.

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Books
Arts

'The Secret Life of Cows' Aims To Show Animals As Thinking, Feeling Beings

5:01am June 17, 2018

by Barbara J. King

Farmer Rosamund Young's book will charm people who want to lap up more evidence that animals have personalities, but may not warm hearts of animal lovers who don't eat meat.