How Cows Live

Boys will be boys as Kalyan Tamal, and some of the other oxen pick fights through and over the fence. As the cows look on and wonder, “Why the fuss?” the boys moo, kick sand and try to attack Kalyan through the fence with their horns. It’s natural for boys to fight, and most of it is play. One ox, Indraneela, breaks the pattern in the end with a little bit of love.

Sri Uddharan Datta Thakur, the ox, has a most unusual sound for a moo. Then there is the sound of the oxen’s horns clashing and banging against each other. Thanks, Balaji for catching these cow sounds and most of the video.

ISCOWP News

Meenakshi was rescued from the auction barn in 2014. At that time her head was very large in proportion to her body which made her an undesirable purchase and therefore of little profit to the auction barn.  When she arrived home we called the vet who said she was born with water on her brain. As she grew her head became more proportionate to her body. However, we think the water on her brain caused some damage. We think she is partially blind.

She has a few additional problems like trouble keeping her weight stable. At different times in her life, we have fed her three times a day with grain. She also has some personality oddities due to her early condition and is often on the outskirts of the herd. However, she has an affectionate relationship with Madhava, our oldest ox. She is often restless and not in sync with the rest of the herd. While the herd is grazing, she is running. Throughout her difficulties, she remains a sweetie and a cutie.

If you would like to help cows like Meenakshi you can make a donation here. Or, you can Adopt A Cow here.

About Cows

Equipped with a long and dexterous tongue, the cow can wrap its tongue around plant parts and pull the food into its mouth where it is placed between its lower jaw and a pad on the upper. Once in the mouth, the cow swings its head to severe the plant parts and chews the food slightly, and mixes it with saliva before swallowing. Later the cow will regurgitate the food to chew and grind it again. This process is called rumination or chewing the cud. The actual chewing portion of a cow’s day consumes eight hours and ruminating takes about 12 hours. Cows can take around 890 bites per minute, 8 hours a day for about 130 pounds (59 kilograms) of food if conditions are optimal. Oregon State University

It is no wonder cows are happiest when they graze the pastures as opposed to being tied or crowded where there is not enough room to graze. God created them equipped to eat grass growing in the soil.

About the Meat or Dairy Industries

As you most likely know, feedlots contain thousands of cows in a small space. The purpose of keeping cows in feedlots is to fatten them up to reach optimum weight for optimum profit on the meat market. The basic instinct of the cow to graze is not fulfilled in the feedlot situation. Many other instincts and desires normal to how cows live are none existent also in the feedlot situation.

Many of you may have traveled along Interstate 5, about halfway between Los Angeles and San Francisco. There, “at the Harris Ranch Beef Company, up to 100,000 cattle at a time are crowded on top of their own excrement into one square mile of what can be euphemistically called mud (winter) or dust (summer). From the highway, the stench wallops you like a punch in the face and lingers in your car and clothing (even if you never stop driving) for miles — and in your memory forever. Critics call the Harris feedlot Cowschwitz.” The Atlantic

If you consume beef please consider lessening your intake or eliminating beef from your diet for the sake of the cows.