The Resistance of a Cow

There’s something rotten in the cows of Denmark. And Minnesota. And Wisconsin. And Idaho. What could cause a previously thriving herd of majestic dairy cattle to stop drinking water and start drinking … urine? A Danish farmer calls a special investigator, who takes one look at his farm and nopes the heck out of there, refusing to return, citing “bad energy” coming from something nearby … a big building covered in Viking runes.

It’s not magic. It’s an invisible force that’s far more common. And yet deeply mysterious.

This episode plunges producers Matt Kielty and Simon Adler knee-deep in a decades-old dairy farm controversy, rooted in a fundamental suspicion of the invisible streams of electrons that keep our world humming.

Special thanks to Dr. Liz Brock

EPISODE CREDITS:

Reported by - Matt Kielty and Simon Adler

with help from - Clara Grunnet and Rebecca Rand

Produced by - Matt Kielty

with help from - Maria Paz Gutierrez

Original music from - Jeremy Bloom and Matt Kielty

Sound design contributed by - Jeremy Bloom

Mixed by - Jeremy Bloom

Fact-checking by - Angely Mercado and Sophie Samiee

and Edited by - Pat Walters

EPISODE CITATIONS:

Books -

The Great Energy Transition: America from 1876 to 1929 • ( https://zpr.io/3PStsDgidpj5 • ), by David Nye

Powering American Farms: The Overlooked Origins of Rural Electrification • ( https://zpr.io/GdQ4pMCy4DAV • ), by Richard Hirsch

Beyond the Barn – Dodging Cow Patties for 50 Years by a Country Vet • ( https://zpr.io/S8qS9HLEQBJe • ), by Don Sanders a memoir about his long career.

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