Cows

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There were definitely some good takeaways from it but the whole thing overall left me feeling a bit strange and unsatisfied. The author does get it more or less right about chickens and it is exceptionally cruel to keep them in cages.

Overall, I would be interested in more books along these lines, this was a new kind of nonfiction for me that was fun to discover. The first time Cripps brings Steven into the "slaughter station" is when things get really weird - Cripps tells Steven that by using the bolt gun on the cows - it will give him strength to get what he wants and to stand up to what is bring him down (Hagbeast).

It is still a business, maybe not in the way of factory farming but they are still killed however humanely.

The cattle and other animals in this book were raised very humanely in a sustainable way on land that in no way can grow crops. Monstrously fat and murderously driven, referred to only as The Hagbeast, the mother employs her own unique version of dinnertime cuisine as she attempts to bring about the demise of her only child.In telling the stories of her animals, there are amusing anecdotes, moments of sadness and examples that show just how highly intelligent they can be. He goes on to add: 'It's a book that alters the way one sees things and passing a field of cows nowadays I find myself wondering about their friendships and their outlook, notions that before reading Young's book I would have thought comical, even daft.

On a more serious note, this is how farming should be and I fully endorse this farm and will continue to support organic farming as best I can. In this gently written, quirky and charming little book, Young sets about rewriting everything that you thought that you knew about cattle.Overall, for someone completely knew to the field of animal behaviour and farming like myself, this was a great eye opener. I guess my biggest struggle with this book, and it appears to be the same thing for a lot of reviewers, is how Young talked so lovingly of these cows all the way through but in the end, she slaughtered them anyway. The cows know, as Orwell wrote in Animal Farm, “Never listen when they tell you that Man and the animals have a common interest, that the prosperity of the one is the prosperity of the others. In fact, I think many readers, whether familiar with things like power electronics or not, were trying to make a similar association with this book, transcending aesthetics. It's not a moralizing book or straight to the point, but it shows that farms need to make the effort to prioritise the well being of these animals.