About 200 carol singers had just begun the second verse of the classic Christmas song “The Friendly Beasts” when a little girl let out a shriek of excitement. About 6 meters away, below the balcony, on the floor of the vaulted barn, two of the six dairy cows were butting heads. As the heifers lifted their horns, their playful struggle seemed like a display of Christmas joy.
On Saturday, Churchtown Dairy, a dairy farm in Claverack, New York, hosted a Christmas tradition once again: singing carols to the herd of 28 cows that call this cathedral-like barn their winter home. What began a decade ago as a way to celebrate the livestock for the farm staff and their families has become an annual tradition that attracts locals and visitors to this 100-acre property every December.
This year, pre-registration for the two carol performances filled up within hours of being posted online. The farm staff fielded phone calls from frustrated carol singers, some of whom complained that an Instagram post had made the event more crowded.
“We are considering adding a third night next year to accommodate all interested parties,” said Grace Pullin, Director of Partnerships and Programs at Churchtown.
Several carol singers who had attended in previous years were present on Saturday. Ashlyn St. Ours, 33, who attended her first carol night last year, said it was a “beloved tradition”. This year, she even mentioned it in her annual Christmas letter.
Another participant, Sharon Mclees, 64, has been attending for six years. Mclees, who grew up surrounded by cows, said she finds comfort in the tranquility of Churchtown. “I love the farm atmosphere,” she said. “It’s like getting back to nature.”
Churchtown Dairy was founded in 2012 by Abby Aldrich Rockefeller, granddaughter of magnate John Rockefeller, but the property has been in her family for decades. Her mother, Peggy Rockefeller, purchased the land as part of a larger acquisition of over 1000 hectares by the American Farmland Trust, a nonprofit agricultural organization she founded in 1980.
Abby Aldrich Rockefeller partnered with architect Rick Anderson to design the farm, even traveling across the country visiting barns for inspiration. For her, the vault is a sign of a healthy and biodynamic farm. At Saturday’s event, Anderson explained that its shape had a more practical purpose: “Cows hate corners.”
The dairy is not unique in its carol tradition; a few kilometers down the Taconic State Parkway, Hawthorne Valley Farms has been singing to its livestock for 40 years in a smaller event on Christmas Eve. Every member of the Churchtown staff has a different theory about the origins of this practice. Pullin suggested that it may have been inspired by the work of German esoteric philosopher and pioneer of biodynamic agriculture, Rudolf Steiner, who claimed that cow horns had “astral-etheric formative powers.” Eric Vinson, the farm’s herd manager, referenced the old European myth that animals can communicate with humans at Christmas. In more contemporary contexts, scientists at the University of Leicester discovered that cows produced more milk when they were played songs with fewer than 100 beats per minute (R.E.M.’s “Everybody Hurts” seemed to be a favorite).
Therefore, carols, with their measured rhythm, may indeed foster the happiness of the livestock.
For those who managed to secure a spot on the barn beams, the evening was a celebration of cows: their majestic mooing, their picturesque habitat, and their unpasteurized milk, which Churchtown sells for $6 per just under 2 liters, plus a $2 bottle deposit.
The legal status of unpasteurized, or raw, milk varies from state to state; in New York, farms can sell raw milk directly to consumers. Health experts point to the risk of foodborne illnesses caused by viruses such as salmonella, listeria, Campylobacter, and Escherichia coli, which are normally eliminated in the heating or pasteurization process of milk.
During a visit to the farm a few hours before the carols, Vinson described the precautions taken at Churchtown Dairy, such as regular testing and treating the cows’ udders with an iodine solution. He also extolled the supposed benefits of raw milk: “Unpasteurized milk is a live probiotic food. It still has the good bacteria that help inoculate the gut and strengthen the gut microbiota.”
Raw milk enthusiasts are even willing to cross borders: Nora O’Rourke, 54, and Michael Leone, 61, drove from their home in Rockaway Township, New Jersey, where raw milk is illegal, to Warwick, New York, in search of unpasteurized dairy products.
But not all attendees were there for the milk: Michael O’Gara, 70, a member of the Hudson Community Choir, lamented that he no longer tolerates it as well as before. Instead, he and his wife, Bonnie, 67, along with other choir members, were there to lead the group in singing.
The carol singers, armed with illustrated songbooks, began with Christmas classics – “The First Noel,” “Silent Night,” “Away in a Manger” – before Pullin invited attendees to request songs. There were shouts for “Free Bird,” but the crowd ultimately settled on “Feliz Navidad” as the final number of the night.
The cows wagged their tails in gratitude – or perhaps they were flicking away loose hay – and for a moment, the myth seemed to come alive: animals and humans communicating at Christmas.