Reviews - Hvad køer ved om livet

Hvad køer ved om livet by Rosamund Young

155 reviews for:

This is a beautiful, simple, meandering book, in which Rosamund Young, part English hippie and part agricultural reactionary, talks about the organic farm that has been in her family for more than a half-century, and in particular the relationships she has built with the dozens of cows they've raised on the property ever since they turned away from the commercial dairy market to concentrate solely on raising beef, and consequently allowed their cows to breed and feed their calves and wander as they wish. I would have loved it more intensely if there had been more critical substance to it. As many reviewers have noted, it does seem kind of odd to see these animals so deeply individualized, to be described on every page, on the basis of Young's long and loving observation of them, as communicating, playing, holding grudges, pleading for help, forgiving one another, mourning for the dead, and making their thoughtful way through the world...and then realize that Young's family farm is raising them all for the slaughter. But oh well: the world is full of mysteries, and the odd balance Young strikes this book--really more a random collection of diary entries and off-hand recollections that any kind of thoroughly exploration of the topic--between cows as independent, imaginative creatures, and cows as existing in a productive agricultural economy with the humans around them (humans which they, according to Young, depending on the particular cow, sometimes love, sometimes are suspicious of, sometimes are frustrated by, and more) is one of them. I read it in a single day, and found the whole thing--complete with wonderful anecdotes about cows the figure out how to open gates, horses that run for help when one of their friends get stuck in a gully, and hens that become bodyguards for their wounded fellows--utterly charming. A fine read, and one that got me reminiscing about my days of milking cows by hand. I had nothing like the sort of relationship Young has with her family's cows with the cows I milked...but I now wonder what I missed out on.

ronathereader's review against another edition

3.0

funny lighthearted relaxing medium-paced

sunshineheaton's review against another edition

5.0

adventurous emotional funny inspiring lighthearted relaxing sad fast-paced

the_readingcorner's review against another edition

3.0

informative fast-paced

pumpkinghost24's review against another edition

2.75

funny informative lighthearted reflective fast-paced

amylase1's review against another edition

3.0

Some sweet and sometimes amusing anecdotes about cows and other farm animals. Talks about how the cows are essentially given free reign and choice about what they do on the farm which is all very nice but then in passing mentions a cow who was impregnated by IVF (like the cow had any choice in the matter).
A few alarm bells rang at the mention of homeopathy and the way some tales were presented skirted around the fact that these animals were being slaughtered and felt misleading (one of the only times the age of a cow was mentioned was one that was 20 years old but most of their cows will have been slaughtered probably by the time they were 2 which isn’t mentioned). Overall it was obvious how much this family of farmers really cares about their animals and I do hope this book might convince some meat eaters to either be more selective about the meat they consume (which appears to be an aim of this book) or just stop harming animals altogether. This book has certainly confirmed to me that I could never consider eating one of these sweet animals (or hens, sheep, pigs also mentioned)!