A small classic.But while her book isgently humorous, it is not a spoof. Cows really are diverse characters with eventful inner lives… Drawing on decades of experience, Young hasa serious messageconcerning non-intensive, compassionate farming.” — Financial Times Cows and sheep "ask politely for help," or they "have a chat" with each other, or they "stand together and enjoy the view" or they "ask advice of older animals".

Cow" technically refers to a female that has had at least one calf; males are called "bulls" or "steer," and a female who has yet to have a calf is called a "heifer." [5] This is one of our favorite cow books. Every day Mama May milks Luella who provides enough milk and cheese for a large family of children. Mama May treats their cow well and sings her a song before and after she milks her and also kisses her on the nose. One day curious little Annalisa decides to milk Luella on her own but doesn’t kiss her on the nose. This makes Luella sad and she stops making milk. Mama May tries to convince Annalisa to kiss Luella on her nose but she refuses. Will Annalisa kiss Luella on the nose so that the children don’t go hungry? You’ll have to read it to find out what happens! Author Rosamund Young runs Kite's Nest Farm, on the edge of the Cotswolds, with her brother and partner. She has lived on the farm since her childhood, and has been observing the animals ever since. Her ethos is admirable; they let the cows decide when they wish to finish weaning, allow them to live in mixed generational groups to give the younger members the opportunity to learn from their elders, and give the animals constant access to food and water. Young writes: 'We decided that the animals themselves are by far the most qualified individuals to make decisions about their own welfare and it is the decisions they make, as well as many other occurrences both humdrum and extraordinary, that I have observed, learned from and written down here.' Young then goes on to elaborate further, explaining that she and her colleagues 'have tried on this farm to create an environment that allows all of the animals the freedom to communicate with or dissociate themselves from us as they choose.' Throughout, she makes highly thoughtful points; for instance: 'Just because we are not clever enough to notice the differences between individual spiders or butterflies, yellowhammers or cows is not a reason for presuming that there are none.' In photographic and written form this book follows Clarabelle the cow through the process of birthing her calf, eating and milking. The book also talks about how the farm uses the manure to provide bedding for the cows, create electricity and fertilizer for the soil. Our four-year-olds really enjoyed looking at the photographs in this book. However, they had the glazed-eye look as we read certain parts of the book but our seven-year-old loved all the information.

14 Amusing Books About Cows

This meditative little book isn’t new: it came out first in 2003, when it was published by a small farming press. But then a beady-eyed editor at Faber noticed Alan Bennett had praised it in his diary (“it alters the way one looks at the world”, he wrote in an entry on 24 August 2006), with the result that it has now been republished. Its author, Rosamund Young, who lives and works at Kite’s Nest, an organic farm on the edge of the Cotswold escarpment, must be thrilled – or maybe not. Having read her book, which is very sensible but also somewhat dreamy and a bit obsessive, she strikes me as the kind of woman who would rather be standing in a muddy field in her wellies than listening to some eager townie praise her for her wisdom.

The style is an eclectic mix of astute animal observation, gossipy stories about what animal did what when, rather tedious geneology of all the wonderful cows the author has had the pleasure to know and some "All Creatures Great and Small" vibes. In this affectionate, heart-warming chronicle, Rosamund Young distills a lifetime of organic farming wisdom, describing the surprising personalities of her cows and other animals Cows produce methane when they digest food, which they release as flatulence. Twenty-five percent of the methane polluting the atmosphere in the United States comes from cows. [2]enormously disturbing and transcendently clever, Cows, a literally eviscerating portrait of life among the British lower classes, is revered internationally as one of the most daring English-language novels of the past few decades." These books can be read as part of a themed-unit on cows, to supplement lowercase letter “c” (c is for cow) in the All About Reading Pre-Reading Program, or just for fun! 14 Amusing Books About Cows This is a great book for teaching young children the process of a cow’s milk production as well as what happens once it gets to the dairy and then to the stores. There is enough detail in the book for children in early elementary grades to learn something new while also appealing to preschoolers.

Rosamund Young driver Kite’s Nest Farm i Gloucestershire i England. Gården er kendt for at producere bæredygtige fødevarer, og den drives ud fra grundprincipper om god dyrevelfærd – og mere til. Hendes forældre startede som selvstændige landmænd på Kite’s Nest Farm I 1953, og her begav de sig ud i at drive et økologisk landbrug, før begrebet ’økologi’ overhovedet var opfundet. A work that all farmers have either read or believe they have. It contains humour and wisdom, and is worth it just for the section on “Drowners” – the men who managed river meadows with skill to produce early spring grazing. The best succeeded 10 days ahead of the rest. But it also explains the importance of sheep for a productive farm, and includes a first-hand account of ploughing virgin prairie grassland in Canada. Young, some of whose cows are (terrifyingly) able to cross cattle grids and perform all manner of other physical feats, tells us that when an animal shakes its head, it’s giving you a warning. The message is: keep away. But she does not expand on this, perhaps because, what with knowing her own beasts so very well, she has never been on the receiving end of cow rage. Apparently, she sometimes carries a large brush with her, the better to calm the curious and the cross with a few soothing strokes across the cliffs of their flanks – not something I’m likely to start doing any time soon. Still, one fact I do know now is that cows strongly object to perfume. This, I will remember. In the future, all walks will be strictly Mitsouko-free. It wasn't an awful book, it read in part like propaganda for expensive locavore eating and to show how compassionate farming can be profitable, which is laudable. Because of that I rounded 1.5 stars up to 2.This book had one of our four-year-olds laughing hysterically. In fact, I don’t think I’ve ever seen her laugh so hard from listening to a story before. In the book, there is a cow who says “oink” and all the animals on the farm laugh at her but then she finds a pig who says “moo” and they teach each other their sounds. As they are learning, they mistakenly say the wrong sounds which makes the book even funnier.