Last of the Hawthorn berries

The herdsman said that any drop in milk output was his fault. He was reading an article in Hoard's Dairyman that cows pick up on the herdsman's emotions and react in kind- i.e. if the herdsman is feeling sad, the cows will feel depressed. I thought this was a bit touchy-feely, especially for that publication. I asked if the reverse was true. If the cows were dejected does that affect the herdsman's psyche? He laughed and said the article didn't look into that point of view. So we all sang a mellow chorus of Koom-By-Ya and threw some faggots in the fire. (Oops, that was summer camp and, no, back then in-my-neck-of-the-woods "faggots" meant bunches of little sticks.)