I wish I thought this was a joke...

[Ghoulish Delight]

Cows don't, but farmers do. And the time change means changing the milking schedule. And that reduces milk output. But the argument is still shaky because what's basically been shown is that milk output is reduced for a period following the change in time until the cows get used to it, the it returns to normal. So extending it shouldn't have any more or less effect than there is currently because there are still only 2 time changes a year.

Personally, I'm all for this. I honestly wish they'd make the shift permanent. I much prefer having sun in the late afternoon/evening than in the morning when I'm either at work or asleep.

[Kevy Baby]

Originally Posted by Ghoulish Delight

Cows don't, but farmers do. And the time change means changing the milking schedule. And that reduces milk output.

If the farmer believes that there is an output difference because the cow is being milked one hour sooner (to the cow, not the human artificial time clock), then the farmer should milk the cow one hour earlier (on the artificial human time clock) when the DST ends in October and stay on that schedule until DST starts up again.

I would tend to agree with your assumption that the cow would get used to the change. And the impact could be minimized by making the change gradual over a couple of days: if 10:00 a.m. is the scheduled milking time, then:

10:00 - three days before DST ends
9:40 - two days before DST ends
9:20 - day before DST ends
10:00 - day DSt ends

Or double the number of days and cut the change time to 10 minutes.

Or just wait until the cows come home.

Or just elimimate clocks, let people do whatever they want whenever they want and let chaos rein!

[Ghoulish Delight]

Originally Posted by Kevy Baby

If the farmer believes that there is an output difference because the cow is being milked one hour sooner (to the cow, not the human artificial time clock), then the farmer should milk the cow one hour earlier (on the artificial human time clock) when the DST ends in October and stay on that schedule until DST starts up again.

Good theory, but remember, the farmer's got delivery schedules to meet. We're not talking about the independent farmer with his 10 cows. We're talking about the huge dairy farms with hundreds of cows that run on tight schedules. They interface with suppliers, shippers, etc. and they have to meet those schedules. They can't just shift things by an hour.