In their natural habitat, cows walk many miles a day. They are adept at finding fresh grazing land, as well as good walking paths, water ponds and shady places to rest. Cows thrive both in the woods and in open fields.
Cows are ruminants, which means they are hoofed mammals who mainly eat grass, rich in the sun’s nutrients in the form of chlorophyll. Grazing begins early in the morning and continues throughout the day until the afternoon when they lie down and ruminate the food. Cows are like a big family who follow their herd. They graze together and rest together when they ruminate. Each herd has a leader, who is often the oldest and wisest cow in the herd; the one who knows the best pastures and who leads the herd to the places with best grazing land, water springs and shady places on hot days. While walking along to pasture, cows usually form a line behind each other, with the leader first. Cows are harmonious and peaceful animals.
When a cow is ready to give birth, she wanders away from the flock to a quiet place where she can deliver and be alone with her little one. The newborn calf quickly finds the mother´s teat and drinks her milk while the mother licks him or her lovingly. The first week, the calf suckles his mother up to ten times per day. During the following months, the calf stays close to its mom. Each day, the calf feeds at least five times and is licked by his mother for over half an hour. After a few months, the calf starts nibbling grass and begins playing with the other calves in the herd, always staying close to his mom. At the age of five months, the bond is still very deep between mother and calf. The calf is weaned when it’s about ten months.
*I believe that mother and child belong together. I will never forget a time in New Zealand when I saw the cows outdoors grazing. It was a large pasture full of cows and calves. The calves were almost as big as their mothers, but all of them went side by side with her, despite almost being adults. This experience of seeing how quiet and peaceful the bull calves were and how connected they were to their mothers made a deep impression on me.
