This was something I didn't believe until my mom and dad recalled what it was like growing up on small farms with a house cow in India.
The they are incredibly intelligent and excellent judges of emotion. They are protective of their owners and can be trained quite well.
This was their rational argument for asking me to not eat beef. I still eat beef, but I can imagine that it's quite distressing when a cow is no different than a pet dog to you. (religious reasons aside)
A couple years ago I went to a party where a lady brought her pet pig-- a fifty pound potbellied pig named Penelope. Penelope had her hooves painted with nail polish and rode in a stroller. I noticed that Penelope was chewing something, and had been since she arrived. I later asked the lady what the pig was chewing. The lady said it's gum.
It was one of the rare times in my life where I was struck dumb and mute. I could only stare at her, and she further offered that it's Trident gum.
After a moment I asked whether Penelope swallows the gum, and the lady said no, never. She chews for an hour or two and then spits it out, presumably after it's lost its flavor.
I felt like everything I knew about life up to that point was wrong.
If we make an ultra long lasting flavor X, I believe a brain perceiving X gum will make that sensation the baseline. Like we forget the sensation of socks or a strongly smelling restaurant after a few minutes.
Pigs are smart but they have extreme "I'm prey" personalities. They will usually only be social around few people or in few circumstances. I think cows are just less shy, maybe because of their size, and they will definitely intimidate animals they don't like.
I once was hiking with friends and met a pig's family (father, mother, two small children). It was surprising (I didn't know that pigs were monogamous, let alone run a family better than half human out there); we kept looking surprised so the male came on front kinda to assert his position on or protect his family. Then he led his family into the woods. A really unusual interaction.
In my experience, dairy cows are much more personable than beeves. Don't feel too guilty about eating beef, but do try to eat happy beef. Grassfed pastured cows are happy cows, and I like my meat to have had a good life.
Now I understand why sacred cow persons "otherised" western cow breeds and okayed foreigners eating their meat. One guy even said (present day) westerners are actually eating aurochs.
This was something I didn't believe until my mom and dad recalled what it was like growing up on small farms with a house cow in India.
The they are incredibly intelligent and excellent judges of emotion. They are protective of their owners and can be trained quite well.
This was their rational argument for asking me to not eat beef. I still eat beef, but I can imagine that it's quite distressing when a cow is no different than a pet dog to you. (religious reasons aside)