Page 12 - Hillside 2017 Newsletter for Web
P. 12

Vegetarian Beef Farmer Sends His Cows to Hillside...

                                                                                         There are
                                                                                       450 rescued
                                                                                      cows lliving at

                                                                                           Hillside

Above, Jay’s cows shortly after arriving safely at Hillside... ‘Knowing them personally makes it more difficult to think about eating them...’

   In April 2017 we were asked to take      over time, has seen that there was much   inner life. They’re not just units of
   in a herd of 70 cattle, including 30     more to these animals than we are led     food. Knowing them personally
   pregnant cows after a massive            to believe.                               makes it more difficult to think about
   turnaround in thinking by the farmer, a                                            eating them.’
   vegetarian, who could no longer bear     He said ‘I began to see that cows
   to send his cows to the                  recognise each other, and they’ve got     We were happy to welcome Jay’s
   slaughterhouse. Instead, he got in       very good memories.They also              cows to the Sanctuary. During the
   touch with theVegan Society, who         experience a range of emotions – they     summer all the pregnant cows safely
   contacted Hillside to ask if we could    can be sad, happy, bored, excited.They    gave birth to calves and they will all
   give the cows a permanent safe home      do also have facial expressions.You can   stay together as a herd for the rest of
   in the sanctuary.                        tell what a cow’s thinking by looking at  their natural days.
                                            it. I’ve even seen cows cry. Cows are
   Jay, the farmer, had grown up working    conscious of what goes on around          The story of Jay’s cows coming to
   with the family’s herd of cows but,      them – they have personalities and an     Hillside was featured on BBC
                                                                                      Countryfile in July 2017.
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