Tuesday, October 26, 2010

Truly Happy Cows

These are some bovines from the sanctuary where I work. I love taking photos of them.

Summer
This is Summer- he's a Jersey steer rescued from auction. He is incredibly gentle and sweet.

Maddie
Maddie is 6-7 years old. She was used as a blood donor cow at a veterinary hospital. When she got tired of all the needles (don't blame her), their big "thanks for saving so many lives" was to send her to slaughter. A veterinarian intervened, thankfully. She's a freemartin. When a female calf is twinned with a male, the female is always sterile and thus not useful for milk production. So she looks super masculine and is more the size of a Holstein male.

Elsa
This is Elsa. She was used at a small school's teaching farm. After fifteen years, she stopped giving birth and, well, I guess her "worth" wasn't so worthy anymore. They planned on showing their gratitude by killing her. One school official called us and we were able to take her in - she's never been in a herd before, but she immediately took charge. Jersey cows are like that. She may be the smallest, but she's the toughest!

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