It turns out that cows can be potty trained as easily as toddlers — maybe even easier. It’s no bull. Scientists put the task to the test and 11 out of 16 cows learned to use the “MooLoo” when they had to go. Researchers used a sweet treat to coax the cows to push through a gate and urinate in a special pen. It only took 15 days to train the young calves. What started as a joke on a New Zealand radio talk show about the problem of livestock waste turned into a serious study published in the journal Current Biology. Urine contains nitrogen, and when mixed with feces it becomes ammonia. Ammonia is an environmental issue because it can taint the water and create the airborne pollutant nitrous oxide. Cows pee a lot — a single cow can produce 8 gallons in a day. While dogs, cats and horses can be toilet trained, they already show the desire to go in special places, but cows don’t. That’s why the researchers decided to come up with a plan to train them to seek one place to go. If applied to the 270 million dairy cows across the globe, it could put a serious dent in the toxic chemicals and greenhouse gases produced by bovine waste.
