Arise, ye cattle, anoint the shield
Posted by metaphorical on 4 February 2007
It’s tempting to think that the answer to the oppressively cruel cattle culture is for the cows to kill their owners—at least it’s easy to think that when it happens on two farms thousands of miles apart, on successive days, in Ohio (“Farmer killed by cow”), and New South Wales (“Woman dies after cow rams gate”).
The fact is, though, that these were probably the Little-House-On-The-Prairie type farms that are the least objectionable. Factory farms are run like concentration camps and there’s little opportunity for the tattoo’d prisoners to rise up against the guards. Up-close-and-personal family farms, on the other hand, where cows lead generally happy lives between occasional moments of terror and cruelty, are rife with opportunities for insurrection. That it doesn’t happen more seems proof that life there is generally good for both man and beast.
I feel badly for these families, who surely care for the animals in their charge, even as they separate parents from young.
My thanks to the Notmilkman for the links, even as we draw opposite conclusions from them.
