On the day of honour of the cow
From the perspective of an Aiderbichler
told by Gisela Pschenitschnig
The introduction of the cow’s day of honour was intended to encourage people to eat more chicken than beef on this special day.
I hear people say: “Why should I honour the cow, it’s there to eat!”. On average, “meat-loving” Austrians consume 12 kilograms of beef and around 115 kg of dairy products every year. The credo of vegetarians and vegans is usually “I don’t eat meat or animal products”.
A few years ago, there was a little girl on a guided tour. She was hanging on my every word and didn’t want to understand why we “eat the beautiful cows”. After a while she visited us again and said: “Do you remember me? I was on your tour with my grandparents and you talked about the cows and pigs. I decided then that I would never eat meat again in my life.
"Stupid cow" does not apply!
There are no stupid things in nature – everything has its order and its purpose. Cows are intelligent and extremely social animals and are also revered in many cultures. In some cases, owning a cow is believed to be the oldest form of wealth.
They are certainly getting rich – the multi-billion dollar industries around the world that are based on cattle farming. Cows provide humans with meat and their milk is not only the basis for countless types of cheese, but also for yoghurt, whipped cream, butter and many other products.
Milk production is fuelled by high-performance feed, grass, maize and other feed concentrates. Long gone are the days when a farmer might still have three cows in his barn, whose milk he used to feed his family and for which purpose a cow was slaughtered every two to three years. Today, a “turbo dairy cow” lives to be 5 years old at most – then the calves and the milk yield are over – you can imagine where the final path leads…
The pain of separation after calving
is incomparably painful for both the cow and her baby. Immediately after birth, the majority of calves are separated from their mothers. The calf needs around 4 litres of milk a day to survive, but is usually only fed artificial milk substitutes instead. And by the way, cows only give milk when they have a calf – so many cows in mass farming are probably “permanently pregnant”.
Calves without their mum, with whom they can cuddle and on whose udder they can suckle, are in the vast majority of cases nervous, make more noises and constantly stick their heads out of the barn searching. Of course, separation from the mother not only has a direct impact on the animals’ health, but also on their social behaviour in particular.
Gut Aiderbichl and mother-child husbandry
Nature never intended for a calf to be separated from its mother cow immediately after birth. In large stables, the two have at most a few days together before the family is separated. Sometimes we take in cows that are already pregnant at Gut Aiderbichl – then of course we look forward to the calf all the more! Because we know that it and its mother will be fine for the rest of its life. After birth, it can drink and grow up naturally with its mum, cuddle with her in the straw for as long as it wants and simply grow up to be a happy, healthy animal.
Why does the cow have horns?
Horns fulfil many important functions in the body and also in the life of a cow. On the one hand, horns have always served as an aid in power struggles when it comes to clarifying the hierarchy in a herd of cattle. Some of the horns are pointed and in some places even razor-sharp. For this reason, the horns of small calves are painfully burnt out with a cauterising rod after a few weeks, which is not only extremely painful but also dangerous for the animal. This procedure overlooks the fact that horns are also organs that are very well supplied with blood. They are important for regulating heat in the body and make an important contribution to gas exchange during digestion. Horns therefore make a significant contribution to a cow’s health and well-being.
Encounters with animal transporters
are the worst thing for me. If I have to assume that the animals in the “live animal transporters” are insecure, nervous and fearful, then I would like to overtake the transporter, stop it and let all the animals go. Cattle are highly sensitive, intelligent animals. They develop stress and release it throughout their bodies in the form of toxic hormones. This is also the reason why, as soon as they approach the slaughterhouse, they can smell and sense what they are heading towards – and start to roar and fight back.
I would like to see more courage to actually stop a slaughter truck at some point and I would like to see consumer behaviour in favour of preserving and saving these beautiful animals.
I look forward to the next guided tour with you at Gut Aiderbichl Henndorf, sincerely, Gisela
