COWS ARE COOL: LOVE ‘EM!
4.
Looking Beyond Their Exterior
When you see cows standing in the pasture blandly chewing some dreary bit of grass and staring into the middle distance, you’d never guess what lies beneath that placid exterior.
A cow contentedly chewing her cud may look like she doesn’t have a care in the world, but there’s a lot going on behind those big brown eyes. Cows are as diverse as cats, dogs, and people: Some are bright; others are slow learners. Some are bold and adventurous; others are shy and timid. Some are friendly and considerate; others are bossy and devious. According to organic farmer Rosamund Young, author of The Secret Lives of Cows, cows “can be highly intelligent, moderately so, or slow to understand; friendly, considerate, aggressive, docile, inventive, dull, proud, or shy.”
According to recent research, in addition to having distinct personalities, cows are generally very intelligent animals who can remember things for a long time. Animal behaviorists have found that cows interact in socially complex ways, developing friendships over time, sometimes holding grudges against cows or man who treat them badly, forming social hierarchies within their herds, and choosing leaders based upon intelligence. They are emotionally complex as well and even have the capacity to worry about the future.
For meat eaters, once they were a byword for mindless docility. But modern research is finding out that cows have a complex mental life. Of course, even a child in traditional cultures knew this all along.
Like all other living beings, cows are capable of strong emotions such as pain, fear and even anxiety about the future. But if farmers provide the right conditions, they can also feel great happiness.
They are reconsidering the welfare laws because they are finding cows so emotionally similar to humans.
Christine Nicol, professor of animal welfare at Britain’s Bristol University, says even chickens might have to be treated as individuals with needs and problems. She says, “Remarkable cognitive abilities and cultural innovations have been revealed. Our challenge is to teach others that every animal we intend to eat or use is a complex individual, and to adjust our farming culture accordingly.”
Her colleague John Webster adds: “People have assumed intelligence is linked to the ability to suffer, and that because animals have smaller brains they suffer less than humans. That is a pathetic piece of logic.”
The Bristol researchers have documented how cows within a herd form friendship groups of between two and four animals with whom they spend most of their time, often grooming and licking each other. They will also dislike other cows, and can bear grudges for months or years.
The assumption that farm animals cannot suffer from conditions that would be intolerable for humans is partly based on the idea they have no sense of self. Latest research refutes this nonsensical idea. Sentient animals have the capacity to experience pleasure and are motivated to seek it.
Prof. Webster adds, “You only have to watch how cows and lambs both seek and enjoy pleasure when they lie with their heads raised to the sun on a perfect English summer’s day. Just like humans.”
Looking Beyond Their Exterior
When you see cows standing in the pasture blandly chewing some dreary bit of grass and staring into the middle distance, you’d never guess what lies beneath that placid exterior.
A cow contentedly chewing her cud may look like she doesn’t have a care in the world, but there’s a lot going on behind those big brown eyes. Cows are as diverse as cats, dogs, and people: Some are bright; others are slow learners. Some are bold and adventurous; others are shy and timid. Some are friendly and considerate; others are bossy and devious. According to organic farmer Rosamund Young, author of The Secret Lives of Cows, cows “can be highly intelligent, moderately so, or slow to understand; friendly, considerate, aggressive, docile, inventive, dull, proud, or shy.”
According to recent research, in addition to having distinct personalities, cows are generally very intelligent animals who can remember things for a long time. Animal behaviorists have found that cows interact in socially complex ways, developing friendships over time, sometimes holding grudges against cows or man who treat them badly, forming social hierarchies within their herds, and choosing leaders based upon intelligence. They are emotionally complex as well and even have the capacity to worry about the future.
For meat eaters, once they were a byword for mindless docility. But modern research is finding out that cows have a complex mental life. Of course, even a child in traditional cultures knew this all along.
Like all other living beings, cows are capable of strong emotions such as pain, fear and even anxiety about the future. But if farmers provide the right conditions, they can also feel great happiness.
They are reconsidering the welfare laws because they are finding cows so emotionally similar to humans.
Christine Nicol, professor of animal welfare at Britain’s Bristol University, says even chickens might have to be treated as individuals with needs and problems. She says, “Remarkable cognitive abilities and cultural innovations have been revealed. Our challenge is to teach others that every animal we intend to eat or use is a complex individual, and to adjust our farming culture accordingly.”
Her colleague John Webster adds: “People have assumed intelligence is linked to the ability to suffer, and that because animals have smaller brains they suffer less than humans. That is a pathetic piece of logic.”
The Bristol researchers have documented how cows within a herd form friendship groups of between two and four animals with whom they spend most of their time, often grooming and licking each other. They will also dislike other cows, and can bear grudges for months or years.
The assumption that farm animals cannot suffer from conditions that would be intolerable for humans is partly based on the idea they have no sense of self. Latest research refutes this nonsensical idea. Sentient animals have the capacity to experience pleasure and are motivated to seek it.
Prof. Webster adds, “You only have to watch how cows and lambs both seek and enjoy pleasure when they lie with their heads raised to the sun on a perfect English summer’s day. Just like humans.”
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This is very essential to keep cows very comfortably. If they feel comfortable, then you get the most nourishing food, milk. We are practically seeing in our New Vrindaban center, because the cow are feeling secure in our custody, they’re delivering milk up to the eighty pounds daily. You’ll be surprised. |