Eating Machines

During the summer the cows live out in the pastures.  To me it would seem, they have a very easy life.  They are out roaming the pastures and converting grass into meat.  The cows are rotated from one pasture to the other.  This way they eat the grass down, then they move them to a new paddock and let the grass grow back.  By the time they have grazed all the paddocks, the first one is ready to be grazed again, and they keep making their cycles this way.  During the winter when the grass isn't growing, they have to bring the cows into the barn and feed them hay.  They bed their bedding area down with wood chips and/or straw.  As the cows keep putting down manure they put down another layer of bedding.  But before they put down another layer of bedding, they sprinkle it with some corn.  This corn will be rooted up and eaten by the pigs. 

I learned that Andy and Lizzie have several different kinds of  cows.  When I visited the farm and Andy was giving me a tour we were in the barn.  All the animals were there.  I asked about he names of the animals.  Andy went through the barn naming each of the animals and telling me a little about each of them.  I asked about the names for the cows.  He gave me a really funny look..."we don't name the cows".  It took me a minute to figure out that you don't form a bond on first name basis with something that you plan to eat later on.