I love cows….and bulls…and calves. I raise them. I eat them. I enjoy the fruits of their amazing udders. They are one animal that can truly feed and clothe the village. They recycle plant matter into delicious meat, luxurious leather and all manner of amazing dairy products.
Because I am a veterinarian and a cattle owner and breeder, I study their behavior as well. I am always so amused by the ‘cow huggers.’ These people are convinced that cows are these lovable, huggable pets. In reality, cattle are smelly and dangerous, yet quite beautiful. I love just watching our cattle graze. I love watching the calves run around like maniacs when they are just two days old. I also watch the cruelty of cows. I watched one cow step on and kill her calf in a dispute with another cow over who got to go through the gate first. My husband was almost killed by one cow after trying to check the sex of her calf. We had a bull who absolutely HATED cats. If he saw a cat in the pasture, he would charge across to try to remove it from the earth. Cows are funny. They are not pets. Close to two dozen people are killed by cattle every year in the US. Likely many more overseas.
In the wild world, ruminants such as cattle are prey animals. Someone or something is destined to eat them. In the wild world, this eating often starts before the animal is fully deceased. Their natural deaths are painful and cruel and then they are eaten. Obviously, no other species are stealing milk from the cows but the ultimate fate of all grass eaters is to be eaten. PERIOD. Domestic cattle in this country are VERY humanely killed before processing. If you don’t know who Temple Grandin is, you should. If you act like you care at ALL about animals, you need to read her work. She helped revolutionize the cattle processing business so that the animals are minimally stressed. Mostly they are killed with a gas powered bolt to the temple, which causes instant death if done properly.
What is NOT humane is animals being anthropomorhized and put in situations where they are not naturally happy. I’m pretty sure cows are not thrilled with a bunch of middle aged white women in yoga pants wallowing all over them. What cows really like is to be left to wander and graze over a relatively wide area and have a soft spot to cop a squat and regurgitate ingesta to chew it again….the famous ‘cud.’ Although some cattle tolerate human contact, most really don’t enjoy it. They don’t come when you call them unless you have food. They are easily manipulated with routines and food.
Dairy is not cruel. The cows used at dairy farms are specially bred to produce a LOT of milk. Even if their calves were not removed at a couple days of age, they would produce too much milk for that one calf. This produces a problem that people solve for the cow. When the udder gets full, it’s very uncomfortable. The relief comes in milking. The cows get used to a schedule for milking. If you are 5 minutes late, you are in deep shit. They willingly submit to being hooked up to vacuum assisted milking machines. They ENJOY it as relief. Although they are in stalls and locked into the stall one way or the other, they likely would stay until relief is complete. If not milked on a regular schedule, things like mastitis can develop. Cow milk is nutritious and ….shhhh….raw milk is full of natural immune complexes….
People also mistakenly think dairy cattle are thin because of the way they are made. They were bred to maximize milk production, not muscle production. Beef cattle were bred to maximize muscle production there are some breeds that go for BOTH milk and meat. These cattle usually have free choice access so some sort of forage all day and then have punctuated feedings of various foodstuffs, depending on the farm. Cattle are eating machines. Yes, they are fed chicken litter….they LOVE it.
We have lived for thousands of years in a symbiotic relationship with cattle. Some places like Africa and Asia also use them as work animals that help with farming as well. We are incredibly good at utilizing the entire cow. We use the skin for leather, the hooves for gelatin, the meat for sustenance, the milk for dairy products and their waste as fertilizer. They convert grass(which we have not resorted to eating YET) into many different products that we really are dependent on.
This column is celebration of the moofers. I love cows but I understand their place in this world. They are not pets. This sudden war on using anything from a cow is ridiculous. What are we going to do with the MILLIONS of cattle if we don’t eat them? Let them die of old age? Of course not…..so, then slaughter all of them and then NOT eat the meat? Well that’s not conservation, is it.
So, I’m here for the MOO. I stand for cloven footed, gas belching, constantly pooing, fly magnets. They make the world a better place. Bill ‘I want you to eat crickets’ Gates needs to keep his sights off my Moo friends.