If you didn’t already know, cows love jazz. The phenomenon is well documented, and maybe you’ve seen videos of them chasing cars playing Louis Armstrong or bobbing their heads to the stylings of Miles Davis.

A farm in Britain knows this better than most, as they recently hired a jazz quintet to play for a barn full of cattle. And while it’s undeniably funny to see cows enjoying the classics, there’s actually some science behind why livestock prefer jazz.

According to a study conducted by the National Institute of Health (NIH), jazz music has been found to “enrich the living environments” of cows, chickens and pigs. The study found that with the “right choice of music genre, sound level and tempo, music can alleviate the adverse effects of noise and, thus, reduce stress.”

The report notes that being a cow is already stressful enough, pointing to confinement, noise and, well, the whole “being raised for food” thing. The study cautions that livestock don’t love all music equally and warns anyone playing music for their animals to be mindful of playing it too loudly.

Apparently, though, they found cows aren’t the biggest fans of rock and heavy metal. 

This guy plays jazz for cows and turns out they love it pic.twitter.com/vTZdI2MZiw

— Dudes Posting Their W’s (@DudespostingWs) June 26, 2025