Crazy For Cows

[Gauracandra]

I was looking around for stuff on cows, and came across this site:

 

www.crazyforcows.com

 

So far as I can tell, the Brown Swiss is the cutest of the cows.

 

Now check out this guy here:

 

 

Holy Mother Cow!!! This guy is gigantic. When I first saw this, I couldn’t believe it was a cow (or bull I guess).

 

Here are its stats:

 

Breed: Chianina:

 

The Chianina is the largest cow (or bull for that matter).

The average cow weighs between 1,700 and 2,400 pounds and stands 5 feet tall at the whithers.

The average bull weighs 3,000 pounds. The largest Chianina bull on record weighted 4,300 pounds!

Bulls are typically 6 feet high at the whithers.

Despite their large size, Chianinas have a trim, shapely look, with a fine narrow head.

Most Chianinas are white, although steel grey is possible, and one line of Chianinas are black.

Their nose and hooves are black.

The Chianina originated from the same region as Chianti wine -- in Tuscany, Italy. (The "ch" in Chianina is pronounced like a "k".)

The Chianina's present conformation was settled in the early 19th century.

The Italian herdbook formed in 1956.

Chianinas were first imported into the US in 1973.

[Gauracandra]

 

 

Breed: Watusi:

 

The Watusi has the biggest horns -- the horns' spread can reach up to 8 feet across, and the diameter of the horns at the base can be as large as 8 inches.

The average bull weighs about 2,000 pounds and the average cow, 1,500.

The average bull stands about 5 feet high at the withers (excluding hump), and the cow, about 4 1/2 feet.

Usually a Watusi is red-and-white skewbald, but all colors and patterns can occur, including black, brown, yellow, grey, and white.

Watusi have long legs, a slanting rump, and a very long tail.

They have a small hump in the shoulder area.

Watusi are heat, drought, and insect tolerant.

They can withstand droughts because when they digest grass, they extract almost all the water out of their food.

Watusi prefer to stick together. At night they lie down in a close-knit sleeping group called a glum.

The Watusi are descended from the Ankole, a cattle native to the central African region that includes Barundi, Rwanda, and Zaire.

Their colorful patterns and long horns resulted from selective breeding techniques.

The Watusi was imported to the United States in the 1960s by way of Sweden.

Watusi are considered a rare breed of cattle.

[Gauracandra]

Some years back I was studying Sanskrit with a South Indian Brahmin. He made the point that "Cow means fat." He wasn't making a linguistic case but I've noticed that the Indian cows really are the fattest looking cows (the fat just hangs off their bodies). His point was that many of the cows in the U.S. have actually been bred with Buffalos and such and so aren't really cows. They are bred for meat not milk. I actually looked this up when he said this, and there are in fact cattalos (cows mixed with buffalos). Stonehearted recently mentioned an article (?) by a friend of his that says that the Indian Zebu cow is best for milk, not western cows. So perhaps this factors into the equation.

[atma]

I don't know where you stayed in India but you see a lot of really skinny cows over there. They are not that well protected and there are plenty of slaughter houses. Even in Vrindavan the bengali ricksha wallas eat beef.

 

 

[Gauracandra]

By fat, I don’t think he meant well fed or not well fed. But more the genetic nature of the cow. That is all other things equal, which type of cow has more fat content. Here is a picture of a Brahman. They always seem to have this loose, flabby skin.

 

[atma]

I misunderstood, you're talking genetics here.

 

That Brahman bull is beautiful. The first picture you posted of the white bull reminded me of the bull we saw in Govardhan and my friend wanted to take a picture of him and she was showered by a dog.

 

The Gujarati oxen are majestic, really huge. The Padayatra people left 2 of them in Mayapur after finishing touring India the first time and they were so big and gentle.

 

All this cow talk reminds me of the cows in Vrindavan that come and want to drink your mango lassi while you're sitting in Bihari Lal's. Anybody had that experience?

 

At least in India I was lucky enough to drink milk from protected cows from the devotees goshallas.

 

 

[theist]

"This cow needs aerobics " Yes, no yoga butt"

[livingentity]

You are judging what "yoga butt" is by what the media etc is telling you it should be. That cow might be an example of "true yoga butt".

 

Remember "yoga butt" is in the eyes of the beholder.

 

That didn't sound right!

[atma]

Prithu Das is not that crazy about cows. His wife told me that he was feeding a cow in his ashrama in Vrindavan and the cow gored him in the abdomen lifting him on the air. He fell on his knees and the cow attacked a pile a dirt next to him. Devotees rescued him and took him to the hospital because he finished with a 9 inches gap. He has to go to the hospital daily because the wound is oozing pus and blood and they have to squeeze it out.

Who knows what happened to that cow to react that way.

 

In Mayapur was this cow who always chased women and children. Every day in our day to the Ganga that cow tried to gore us. It wasn't very nice. In another ocassion I was in the roof in one of the buildings in Mayapur and I saw one of my kids with a friend running for their lives in the open fields because a wild BULL was chasing them. They took shelter just in time in a construction place. They thought the bull was chasing them because they were wearing red.

Still that didn't stop them going to the goshalla to see and play with the calves.

 

Once in South India, we were in a beautiful farm near Kollur, the devotees had 5 bulls and a cow: Yudhistira, Bhima, Arjuna, Nakula, Sahadeva and Draupadi. One evening my little girls decided go to the temple and a few minutes later I heard the screamings and when I ran out of the house I saw the poor kids running as fast as they could and the bulls running behing them. Poor things, on their way they met the bulls coming back to the goshalla and the girls got frightened because was a narrow path and they started running back and inmediately the bulls followed suit and started running behind them.

 

Some bad experiences but we still love cows.

 

Last night watching TV, we saw a commercial about meat and one of them told me that the cows here in America look like "meat". I asked her what she was trying to say and she told me that the cows here look very unhappy and they are not that sweet looking like the cows in India and here they look really "beefy". They look like they know where they are going to end up. Very sad.

[veggiegurl]

Beautiful pics!!! Meat Is Murder!!!

[Guest guest]

Yes, Atma, I know what you mean about bulls. Many years ago, there was a bull at Mount Kailasa (Hansadutta's farm) that they kept penned up separately. He also had a nose ring. The nose ring was attached to a rope. Even with all those precautions, I was a little on edge when walking by his pen. He was so big, I think that he could have easily crushed a car.

[yasodanandana]

that's mine

[Guest guest]

jai cows