Farmers make musical mootunes

Two dairy farmers who recorded their cows’ moos have seen them become a surprise hit as downloadable music for ringtones and alerts.

Andrew Gilman of Tamworth and John Chapman of Middlesbrough sent them to DairyCo, who saw an opportunity to turn it into a consumer-facing campaign bringing “mootunes” to the masses.

The results have been media coverage on numerous radio programmes and television.

The mootunes website links through to This is Dairy Farming where people can find out more about agriculture.

“We’re hoping Mootunes might tempt people to find out more about dairy cows and how they’re looked after by farmers,” says DairyCo’s Amanda Ball.

“It’s a bit of fun and we really want people to enjoy the tunes, but there is also a serious challenge in trying to help make the connection between those who produce our food and those who consume it.”

The ‘Mootunes’ were recorded by the farmers using their smartphones to pick up the sounds. The cows’ noises were digitally enhanced using computer wizardry and the best moos were assembled by a sound technician into the moo-based ditties.

“Most people who visit our farm are surprised about how high-tech dairy farming is,” says Andrew, who runs Statfold Farm in Tamworth.

“I use my phone for anything from recording milk deliveries to keeping up to date with Facebook, so I thought it would be fun to see how a recording of my cows would turn out. I was amazed at how the raw cow sound has been changed by the computer experts into these ‘mootunes’ – they’re not exactly Beethoven, but make really unusual ring or alarm tones.”

As well as festive classics such as Silent Night, We Wish You a Merry Christmas and Jingle Bells, the ‘moo-sic’ also includes such ringtone favourites such as the iconic Nokia ringtone.

Amanda adds: “The tunes are a real novelty – and perfect for mobile phone ringtones, though I don’t think they’ll make the Christmas Number 1.”

Go to the Mootunes website