Piper wasn’t happy when Rick Herrmann started playing the saxophone seven months ago.

The 3-year-old yellow labrador retriever moaned, barked and covered her ears when Herrmann, 53, played from the basement in his Oregon home.

“Our dog really doesn’t like it when my dad plays the saxophone,” Erin Herrmann, 22, Rick’s daughter said.

So, when Herrmann and his wife went for a run out by a field near Dayton, Oregon, and saw a herd of cows, they thought it would be funny to come back and have him play the saxophone to see if the cows had the same reaction as Piper.

In the video, dozens of brown dairy cows approach Herrmann as he played the songs he recently learned on the alto saxophone, starting with “Isn’t She Lovely” and then “Careless Whisper.” He joked that it was his first audition for a live audience.

His daughter asked if she could post the video on Twitter when she got home from work and saw it, and now the video has gone viral with more than 11 million views.

my parents are such goofs they drove out to the backroads so my dad could play the cows the songs he’s been learning on the saxophone pt.1 pic.twitter.com/IHzgxtvo0N — Erin Herrmann (@erinmherrmann) June 26, 2019

“It’s kind of fun,” Rick Herrmann said. “I never expected it. It’s kind of crazy how things spread like that.”

Even famous American saxophonist Kenny G tweeted the video.

“This is awesome!” he wrote. “We all have to start somewhere!!”

Herrmann, who works in the electronics industry and is a fitness instructor, recently began learning how to play the saxophone. He tries to practice at least 30 minutes a day and takes lessons through a Christmas gift he got last year.

He chose to play the saxophone because as a child, he was inspired by Boots Randolph, an American saxophonist.

He’s learned songs such as “Careless Whisper,” “Isn’t She Lovely” and “Yakety Sax,” Randolph’s biggest hit and the theme song for the “Benny Hill Show.”

“All throughout my adult life growing up I hadn’t had time, so I thought it’d be cool to learn the saxophone,” he said. “People tend to put things off. Someday I’ll do this. Someday I’ll do that.”

Jenifer Cruickshank, a dairy specialist at Oregon State University, said it’s less about the music and more about the novelty of the scenario that got them to approach Herrmann.

“Cows tend to be pretty curious, and they’re really interested in novelty,” Cruickshank said, “so a guy standing on the edge of a pasture playing the saxophone is pretty novel.”

-- Christina Morales; cmorales@oregonian.com; 503-221-5771; @Christina_M18

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