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The Resistance of a Cow

April 17, 2026

AI Summary

5 min read

The Resistance of a Cow

In the Danish countryside, a farmer named Gregus Kirsten opened his barn door to show journalist Clara Grunel something he'd never seen in a lifetime of farming. His two hundred reddish cows were refusing to drink water. Instead, they would run over the moment another cow began to urinate, catching the stream in midair like a water fountain. When no cow was peeing, they would lick each other's hindquarters to stimulate urination. Gregus had tested his barn water—it was perfectly clean. He was about to sell his life's work.

A Mystery Spreads Across Farms

Grunel and her colleagues began searching and found the same pattern repeating. Another farmer in Denmark. Then another. All with cows that stopped drinking water and started drinking urine. All living near power lines or power stations. The phenomenon wasn't confined to Denmark. In Minnesota, fifth-generation dairy farmer Jill Nelson had noticed problems as early as 2008. Her cows became reluctant to enter the milking parlor, started lapping at water instead of drinking normally, and eventually walked over to puddles of urine and drank them dry. Nelson remembered hearing about something called "stray voltage" from Wisconsin farmers.

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What you'll learn

  • 1 The Resistance of a Cow
  • 2 (02:03) **Episode Introduction** - Lulu and Latif welcome back former senior producer Matt Kielty to tell a bizarre story
  • 3 (04:04) **The First Farm Visit** - Clara meets farmer Gregus Kirsten, whose calves won't drink water
  • 4 (07:28) **The Cow Whisperer** - Gregus calls in Gita, a famous Danish cow expert, who arrives with unusual tools
  • 5 (09:58) **A Pattern Emerges** - Clara discovers this isn't an isolated incident
  • 6 (10:43) **Jill Nelson's Story** - A fifth-generation dairy farmer in Minnesota describes her cows' decline starting in 2008
  • 7 (11:48) **The Stray Voltage Epidemic** - Farmers across America report similar experiences

+ Full timestamped outline available in the app

Show Notes

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 -

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