Lucky the Rescued Cow

Many years ago, I lived in a rural area with farms on either side of my house. Next door there were two cows – a yearling and a calf. The yearling was standoffish, never coming to the fence. The calf was quite friendly. I fed him grass and scratched his head and made friends with him. As summer turned into fall, I noticed how large the older cow was getting. I thought to myself, “they must be feeding him well”.

One day when I arrived home from work there was a large van parked in their pasture. One man was holding the older cow. The other man put something to his head and there was a loud report. The cow fell to the ground. I had just witnessed captive bolt slaughter. The men took the carcass away.

The calf began to bellow, crying so hard he could hardly breathe. This continued for two days until I thought I would go crazy from the sound. The calf never came up to the fence again. This is when I stopped eating cows.

Some stories have happier endings. Lucky the cow was intended for beef. He would be food for the family who raised him. As a calf, he was raised with humans. When he was put out to pasture to fatten up for slaughter, he missed his human friends. Whenever anyone walked by his pasture, he would come to the fence to say hello. People began to talk about this friendly cow whose fence bordered a walking trail.

Can you guess what happened next? Watch Lucky’s film and find out.

(Spoiler alert – it’s a happy ending!)