Cows in Love
Tired of depressing news about deadly Taco Bell and the breakdown of our food safety system? Let me introduce you to one of my favorite rural life writers: Jon Katz. He moved to a New York farm some years ago, and then to the chagrin of his wife and the befuddlement of the local farmers, started to adopt unwanted farm animals and provide them a life of unending hay. Pregnant donkeys, behavior-challenged dogs, and murderous cats all wormed their way into his heart.
His latest story is about his lonely steer, Elvis. With no other cows to keep him company, the steer’s only friend is Katz, whom he will thunder across the field to, in order to lean “over to lick [him] with his enormous, drooly tongue, like a two-story Newfoundland.” Elvis is sad without playmates, and his efforts to play with the donkeys and the sheep are met with fear and flight. And then one day, a cow named Luna is donated to Katz, and lo and behold, Elvis and Luna find everlasting friendship. They sleep under the apple tree, they stare across the field, and they just might provide a respite for you, dear reader, from hearing about those E.coli laden chalupas. Enjoy.
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