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A review by loosegeese
The Secret Life of Cows by Rosamund Young
2.0
Young has put together a very loosely structured series of musings about animals at Kite's Nest. It's prettily-written, if meandering, and really does make a case for the intelligence, personality, and individuality of each and every animal she has met. Young's farm feels idyllic, with freedom of movement and choice of food being valued above all else to provide every animal a high quality of life. If you had to be a farmed cow, you would want to be a farmed cow here.
Young justifies the use of land for animal grazing (it protects hedgerows, maintains carbon-absorbing grasslands, and give purpose to soil that can't support crops), but fails to provide any convincing reasons why we should eat the animals that she has made such effort to prove to us as unique. While slaughter is never discussed, the true purpose of these clever, emotive animals lingers at the edge of the page.
Young justifies the use of land for animal grazing (it protects hedgerows, maintains carbon-absorbing grasslands, and give purpose to soil that can't support crops), but fails to provide any convincing reasons why we should eat the animals that she has made such effort to prove to us as unique. While slaughter is never discussed, the true purpose of these clever, emotive animals lingers at the edge of the page.