Episode 9. Mr Tickle, a cloud of low energy photons and Tom Cruise is going to come round and punch you.
Release Date: 02/26/2026
Bonus Episode; Fields Good, a book about anti-gravity, and is it really that bad?
Cows and Effect
Helloooooooooo listener. That's just me doing an impression of the classically handsome Mr Michael Blanche. Hello listener (I did that one in my own voice). Welcome to this bonus episode; a compilation of the Series 1 jokes. It's funny stuff. And. STOP PRESS. We're going to be speaking at Fields Good, the sustainable farming event in Co. Antrim in Northern Ireland that all the cool kids will be going to on 5th September 2026. There's talks, demonstrations, trade stands, food and drink. It's 09.00 hrs to late evening on Saturday and it sounds very informative and a whole lot of fun....
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Episode 12. Cutting corners, a funeral and he can't remember more than one name at once.
Cows and Effect
A momentous episode listener; it's the last of the first series of the cult science and farming podcast Cows and Effect. For a while anyway. We are mulling over a second series (TBC). Look out for some occasional "Meet the Authors" episodes over the summer. We'll be monitoring the email address , so drop us a line; maybe suggest some topics/questions for Series 2. You know the drill by now. Dear Michael and Paul, Loving the show. Michael is the best. Etc. The regular listener will know that sometimes we fill episodes with science and sometimes it's mainly us droning on about other...
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Episode 11. One job, identifying roadkill, and he had to go and live in London.
Cows and Effect
Sorry, sorry, sorry. We were a couple of days late getting this one out. It's a busy time of year and Michael found it difficult to fit in all the preparation and research that he needs to do to for the podcast. You wouldn't believe the number of distressed listeners that messaged us, asking if we were OK. So, what to say about this one? We were brilliant on the first take; 45 minutes of pure gold. Then we found a "technical issue" and had to do it again. Second take; a lot of tension in the "studio". Third take; judge for yourselves. We have had a listen and cannot believe that none of the...
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Episode 10. Winnie-the-Pooh, the c**tosphere, and a big box of explosives on the other parachute.
Cows and Effect
Sorry about this one listener. Calving's started, Paul's been busy with "contract work" and we just didn't get the work done to put out a proper episode with research papers and all that. We did our best and had a good old chat. Think of it this way, it's probably not as bad as the "difficult fifth episode" and it's still free to air. We promise we'll do better next month. The next two episodes will be about grazing and particularly Regen style grazing. Then we'll have two ask-the-scientist episodes; including Dr Shackleton (is she a-relation or no-relation?), Professor Metin Erin...
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Episode 9. Mr Tickle, a cloud of low energy photons and Tom Cruise is going to come round and punch you.
Cows and Effect
Howdy, yee-haw and yippee-ki-yay buckaroos. Get your ears on, because we're headed west of the Pecos for the rootin' tootin' episode 3. of Lab Rat Jazz Club, where things are fixing to get plumb loco down in the lab. Hot-diggerty-dawg. As usual, there's the odd cuss word, but not the big one. Here's the link to the paper, but listen first and read after. Here is a link to the Supplementary Data, which has all the photographs in it. Email questions, comments, suggestions and Michael Blanche fan mail to . You should probably open with; "Dear Michael, loving the...
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Episode 8. A pirate, a confidence player and everyone’s right; animals are complicated.
Cows and Effect
Happy New Year listener. Eight episodes in (hard to believe for many reasons) and it’s a bit different this month. There's absolutely no big swears; there's a few mediums, but not the big one. And also because we talk about lots of research papers addressing two subjects; small cows and short tails in sheep. Listeners to Michael’s “exceptional value” Pasture Pod Patreon channel will have heard about these slightly niche topics before. Do smaller cows cause less damage to soil in pastures than heavier cows? Are the intakes of cows proportional to their weight? If you breed for short...
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Episode 7. Folk dancing, pocket meat and the Malmo shipyards.
Cows and Effect
This festive episode comes out on 25th December 2025, so Happy blooming Christmas listener. If you're anything like me, the morning so far will have been; 1. Put the turkey in the oven around 06.00 hrs; 2. Check round the stock, 3. Get back to the house in time for a late morning snifter, 4. Check how the turkey is doing, 5. Turn the oven on, 6. Explain that Chistmas dinner is running late. There's some robust swearing in this one listener, including the big swear at around nineteen minutes in. Sorry about that. We know a lot of people don't like the big one, but think it's canonically...
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Episode 6. Free honey, a faraway look and a copious flow of mucus.
Cows and Effect
Hello listener. How's things? You'll be relieved to know that this episode is much shorter than the last one and really delivers on the science. Yes, that's right; back by popular demand, this is the second episode of Lab Rat Jazz Club and, this time, we hear about the work of the brilliant Professor Smith (he's the best, Paul loves him). The main paper; Smith, M.L., 2014. Xxxxx xxx xxxxx xxxx index by xxxx location. PeerJ, 2, p.e338. Find Professor Smith's other work here; The Berkley paper on pain thresholds; women (not girls) vs men (cited 1,673 times!). This...
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Episode 5. Chain drives, mushroom tea and a professional.
Cows and Effect
Where to begin listener? Well, you could begin about 45 minutes into this unfeasibly long episode, because that's how long it takes to get to this fascinating research paper and it's 45 minutes of your life you will never get back. Salomon, M.J., Demarmels, R., Watts-Williams, S.J., McLaughlin, M.J., Kafle, A., Ketelsen, C., Soupir, A., Bücking, H., Cavagnaro, T.R. and van der Heijden, M.G., 2022. Global evaluation of commercial arbuscular mycorrhizal inoculants under greenhouse and field conditions. Applied Soil Ecology, 169, p.104225. Apologies listener, you will only find...
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Episode 4. A fun guy, a great judge of character and a very interesting three years drawing moss.
Cows and Effect
Do you like your agricultural scientific research sumarised in easily digestible form or described at length in mind numbing detail? Oh, OK, nevermind; how about this then? Have you ever asked yourself what happens to arbuscular mycorrhizal fungal mediated phosphate supply when stressed plants stop supplying sugar-like carbon molecules to the fungi? No? Seriously? Nevertheless, buckle up and welcome to the School of Biology at Leeds University, West Yorkshire. Eee by gum, ey up, etc. Michael makes a couragous attempt at humour, based on the marvelous premise that AMF (the phosphate supplying...
info_outlineHowdy, yee-haw and yippee-ki-yay buckaroos. Get your ears on, because we're headed west of the Pecos for the rootin' tootin' episode 3. of Lab Rat Jazz Club, where things are fixing to get plumb loco down in the lab. Hot-diggerty-dawg. As usual, there's the odd cuss word, but not the big one.
Here's the link to the paper, but listen first and read after. Link to Dr Eren's fine research paper. Here is a link to the Supplementary Data, which has all the photographs in it. It's true, they actually did it.
Email questions, comments, suggestions and Michael Blanche fan mail to cowsandeffectpodcast@gmail.com. You should probably open with; "Dear Michael, loving the show; oh my goodness, you are so fab (etc, etc.)"
We really can't be arsed with the admin for social media or fending off all the inevitable and well deserved online abuse, so help us out listener. In the unlikely event that you 1. enjoy the podcast and 2. don't mind people finding out that you enjoy the podcast; then tell your friends. You know the drill by now; "Have you heard about Cows and Effect? It's a farming podcast with the charming, handsome and and brilliant Michael Blanche. You know, the guy from The Pasture Pod and that time thing. He's amazing. I love him. There's another one, but I've forgotten his name. It doesn't matter; did I say it's got Michael Blanche in it?"
Somehow, we keep coming back to polar explorers and we finally got around to Scott. Links to short films about Scott's last expedition.