The bull calf Thomas
Thomas the bull calf looked around helplessly...
In March of this year, there was an official removal of two bulls from a farm where the continuation of animal husbandry was no longer possible from the point of view of the authorities at the time. It sounded very sad. Even the official veterinarian's enquiry sounded a little depressed. We will probably never really know what the reason for the confiscation of the animals was.
Things came thick and fast
The owner was very attached to his animals, but everything took a rapid course and, before we could react with the rescue, the older bull was at the slaughterhouse.
Desperate, the owner expressed his wish to at least be able to rescue the one-year-old bull to Gut Aiderbichl. We were able to fulfil his wish. As proof that the bull calf is doing well, he received a photo from the stable where Thomas lives: in the beautiful cattle stable at Gut Aiderbichl Kilb.
We called him Thomas
The name has Aramaic roots and means "the twin". I wonder if he is also "an unbelieving Thomas"?
He is a beautiful Fleckvieh and has meanwhile settled in very well at Gut Aiderbichl Kilb. In the beginning, Thomas had looked around a bit questioningly in the large stable of his fellow animals. In the meantime, he has made many friends and enjoys his life in great freedom and without danger.
Thomas is a symbol for many bull calves
Thomas' owner was worried about his young bull and he definitely did not want him to be slaughtered.
On the farms of Gut Aiderbichl, there are many cattle that have been lucky to be rescued before they were taken to the butcher as cattle that are usually only one year old.
Our Lucky, for example, was one of them. After the Almabtrieb, the bull calf with the black coat, the white spot on its forehead and the long eyelashes was to be taken to slaughter. Lucky's two rescuers as well as Thomas' farmer thought to themselves: "There is Gut Aiderbichl!"
Gut Aiderbichl does not "condemn"
Over 6,000 animals live on our grace farms. The majority of them should have been slaughtered or euthanized. Rescued animals bring terrible fates, but they are all great at forgiving and forgiveness.
There are many animal abusers in this world. But there are also people, like Thomas' owner, who cared that his bull was doing well. His life situation was perhaps desperate and everything went wrong until the animals had to be confiscated as well.
One important point belongs to the philosophy of Gut Aiderbichl: do not look away, but look and help. If we help the animals, we can always help the people. Condemning is the wrong way.
