How do you tell a cow where to go? It isn't easy, what with cows generally not understanding English and being relatively stubborn creatures. Now, researchers are working on a prototype set of headphones for cows, allowing farmers to control where they go and when.

[Lead researcher Dean M. Anderson] has sung his song during training exercises to get the animals to move. If they pause for longer than a few seconds, he will use the song cue to get them moving again.

If the sound cues fail, the headset can give a small electrical shock to move unresponsive cows.

[Andersen and his partner Daniela Rus] also plan to test other sounds as possible cues, including naturally repulsive sounds for cows such as barking dogs and hissing snakes.

Man, as if it didn't suck to be a cow already, now they have to deal with listening to dogs and snakes and getting electroshocked.

Via Core77