Name: Pavonini's review of The Secret Life of Cows by Rosamund Young
Item: The Secret Life of Cows
Rating: 2
Author: Pavonini

Rosamund Young

Cows can love, play games, bond and form strong, life-long friendships. They can sulk, hold grudges, and they have preferences and can be vain. All these characteristics and more have been observed, documented, interpreted and retold by Rosamund Young based on her experiences looking after the family farm's herd on Kite's Nest Farm in Worcestershire, England. Here the cows, sheep, hens and pigs all roam free. There is no forced weaning, no separation of young from siblings or mother. They seek and are given help when they request it and supplement their own diets by browsing and nibbling leaves, shoots, flowers and herbs. Rosamund Young provides a fascinating insight into a secret world - secret because many modern farming practices leave no room for displays of natural behavior yet, ironically, a happy herd produces better quality beef and milk.

Animal Sentience at Work

The Secret Life of Cows

sonia turcotte

WITH A FOREWORD BY ALAN BENNETT 'A lovely, thoughtful little book about the intelligence of cows.' James Rebanks, author of The Shepherd's Life Cows are as varied as people. They can be highly intelligent or slow to understand, vain, considerate, proud, shy or inventive. Although much of a cow's day is spent eating, they always find time for extra-curricular activities such as babysitting, playing hide and seek, blackberry-picking or fighting a tree. This is an affectionate record of a hitherto secret world.

Pavonini

Neither surprising, nor very enjoyable to read. I was particularly annoyed by the format (like reading through someone's notes to themselves), the "dialogue" she writes for the cows (it just made the stories read really bizarrely), and the fairly fact-free speculation on science and agricultural policy. I would never deny that animal welfare is very important, and industrial farming a travesty, but finding a better way doesn't mean rejecting science overall. Her ideas about homeopathy and vaccines were not reality-based. This book was part personal observations, and part rousing essay, but didn't do either very well. 

I may be biased by the fact that I've already read similar books about invertebrates, meaning that I wasn't remotely surprised by any of the intelligence or personality displayed by the farm animals. The Soul of an Octopus made me very attached to the charismatic molluscs, and Dave Goulson's books make insects come to life. I would recommend them over this.

I added back a star because it did make me laugh a couple of times.

Amanda Wells

I have always quite liked cows. In fact I used to secretly wonder why people were so obsessed with horses when they seems to be more skittish cows... 

This book was a wonderful exploration into the personalities and quirks of cows (and their farm-mates hens and sheep). It was also a non-pushy appeal for free-range / organic farming. 

I was 100% on board with the book, ready to give it to anyone interested in animals or farming, until the homeopathy part. Granted, she does qualify her statement later on, advocating for using prescribed treatments by experts when needed - but then goes on to cast doubt on the efficacy of mass inoculation in children... And while I can understand fear on that front from a place of misinformation, it doesn't take much research to find that there is little evidence to support the seemingly widespread fear that vaccination causes harm to individuals or populations. And further, that there IS nuance in treating individuals depending on medical histories - which is why 'herd immunity' is important: to protect individuals for whom the vaccine is inadvisable. 

So - 95% of this book was wonderful, and I'll probably recommend my farming family give it a read, with the disclaimer on the homeopathy and vaccination part. 

I also have strong urge to go out to a field and have a chat with some animals...

****A Sunday Times bestseller*** ***A Times Book of the Year 2017*** WITH A FOREWORD BY ALAN BENNETT 'A lovely, thoughtful little book about the intelligence of cows.' James Rebanks, author of The Shepherd's Life Cows are as varied as people. They can be highly intelligent or slow to understand, vain, considerate, proud, shy or inventive. Although much of a cow's day is spent eating, they always find time for extra-curricular activities such as babysitting, playing hide and seek, blackberry-picking or fighting a tree. This is an affectionate record of a hitherto secret world.

sonia turcotte &
The Secret Life of Cows by Rosamund Young

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