Spare a Thought for Cows This Mother’s Day

Years ago, when I worked in Colonial Williamsburg (yes, I had to wear the whole colonial get-up, complete withfrilly mobcap), a cow and her calf were kept in the pasture behind the shop where I worked. One weekend, the mother cow was taken away to participate in a fair. From the moment she left until the moment she returned a few days later, the youngster cried nonstop. She sounded like her heart was breaking, as, indeed, it probably was. Concerned people who came into the shop would ask, “What’s wrong with that poor cow?” I would explain that she missed her mother. “Poor baby,” they would say. But many of these people would no doubt go on to consume butter or cheese for lunch or dinner that same day, never realizing that, in order to make these products, calves like the one they had seen earlier that day would have to be torn away from their mothers forever, not just for a weekend.

The love between a mother cow and her baby is so deep that if they are forced apart, they both suffer severe stress and even shed tears of grief, according to Dr. William Frey, director of the Psychiatry Research Laboratory at St. Paul-Ramsey Medical Center and co-author of Crying: The Mystery of Tears.

Oliver Sacks, M.D., author of Awakenings, the book that inspired the movie of the same name, wrote about a visit that he and cattle expert Dr. Temple Grandin made to a dairy farm. Earlier in the day, the calves had been taken away from their mothers. “We saw one cow outside the stockade, roaming, looking for her calf, and bellowing,” Sacks wrote. “She wants her baby,” Grandin told him.

Mother cows have been known to travel for miles looking for their babies. A cow in England named Blackie made headlines years ago when she broke out of her enclosure and walked 7 miles-to a farm she’d never been to before-to be reunited with her calf, who had been sold separately at auction earlier that day. She was found the next morning contentedly suckling her baby, positively identified by the auction sticker still attached to her rump.

When it comes to basic emotions, such as the love that a mother feels for her baby, animals are not so different from us. Every mother fears for her child’s safety. Most would climb a thousand fences to reach a lost son or daughter. We understand so clearly that we are compelled by love to shelter, feed, clean, and protect our children from harm. Why then do we ignore the very same need in animals?

Every time we pour milk on our cereal or spread butter on our toast, we are paying a farmer to tear a mother cow away from her calf. Cows have to be impregnated and give birth in order to produce milk, just as human mothers do. Calves are considered “byproducts” of the dairy industry-they are taken away from their mothers so that humans can drink the milk that nature intended for calves. Male calves, who aren’t kept for milk production, are sentenced to 12 to 16 weeks of “solitary confinement” in veal crates, enclosures so small that calves who are confined to them can’t take a step in any direction.

Mother’s Day is the perfect time to swear off dairy products, if you haven’t already. Swap your milk for soy, rice, or almond milk, and give one of the many brands of vegan cheese a try. (My personal favorite is the new cheese fromDaiya-it melts!) You can find out more about how easy it is to stand up for mother cows and their babies at vegcooking.com

SOURS PETA PRIME