 | Copies of this journal are no longer available for sale, but our other two journals, Society & Animals and the Journal of Applied Animal Welfare Science, are available and subscriptions are quite affordable. They can be ordered online via our secure order page. |
The following transcript is from the February, 1994 conversation between Helga Tacreiter, who has worked with farm animals for many years and currently cares for her own herd of companion cattle, and Viktor Reinhardt of The Wisconsin Regional Primate Center, who has been involved in unusual cattle research.
V: (Viktor Reinhardt): Yes, we were accepted not only by a herd of Scottish Highland cattle, but also by a herd of American buffalos. My wife, Annie, and myself -- we started off doing behavioral research on dairy cattle.
This is already a long time ago (1971). We were interested in cattle social behavior and the sequence in which the animals come into the milking parlor. In your article in last year's Humane Innovations you addressed that issue when sharing your experiences regarding how to make it less stressful for heifers to enter the milking parlor, by training them in gentle ways.
After our research in 1971, we had a chance to go to Kenya and make a comparative study on semi-wild beef cattle. We started another comparative study on Scottish Highland cattle in Germany after we returned from Africa in 1976. These animals shared a big enclosure with red deer stags. People thought that both species would not mix, but we made a video tape showing the stags joining the cattle on their fenced pasture during the night.
H: I had a very similar experience on the farm here. There was a herd of deer that passed through at a certain time every morning. They would come and graze right around the cows. Usually the deer came early in the morning while the cows were still lying down sleeping, and the cows weren't disturbed to the point where they would get up. They would just watch the deer. When they were awake, they still didn't get up until they were ready to start grazing, and the deer weren't alarmed once the cows got up. If I was huddled down next to a cow, the deer also ignored me to the point where they came so close I could see the inside of their ears.
V: Both species can be kept together for the purpose of managing fallow farmland.
H: All your cows had horns though, right? In my case, only one cow has horns.
V: Oh, well I can then imagine that she was kind of taking advantage of that and bossing everybody around.
H: I think that was probably it because things weren't equal. If somebody else had been able to get back at her the same way then she probably would have behaved.
V: Helga, you recommend dehorning of dairy cattle. The animals we studied in Africa also had beautiful, long horns, and we never had problems with this. In a book I wrote in German, I came to the conclusion that dehorning cattle is just like cutting the tails off piglets: it reflects the extremely unnatural conditions under which the animals are forced to live.
H: Exactly, because the only time that the cows, if they all have horns, would hurt each other, on the dairy farm for instance, is when they were jammed together to get into the parlor. When they were out in the fields there weren't any problems. I see what you mean about the management. If their farmers managed them in such a way that they didn't have to be crowded together, then there wouldn't be a problem.
V: We had the same experience with American buffalos. They were also on a big farm and were supplement fed during the winter. The buffalos used their horns as a social weapon, but we never saw any incident of injury. I would imagine, however, that things would be extremely different if you kept buffalos under the same crowded conditions as dairy or beef cattle are kept.
H: I think I agree with you there. So that would be one recommendation for improving their lives is to make sure they're not so crowded as to cause injury.
V: But, you know, if you make this recommendation you are
up against the wall. Quantity, not quality counts in our modern society.
EDITOR: A question for Helga. I plan to meet with Ben & Jerry's Ice Cream people to talk with them about possible standards for the most contented cows, so they might say their milk came from more "contented cows." If you had recommendations for such standards to make life better for cows, what would they be? What could most make life more normal, or ease the most pain, or enrich the lives of dairy cows? Could both of you brainstorm this a little?
H: I definitely think that calves should be raised in groups rather than in isolation. I think it must be horrible, from their point of view, for them to be raised in isolation in the little standard calve hutches that most dairy farmers now use. What about you Viktor?
V: I would fully agree with you. For one thing, the conventional method of raising calves is inhumane because we are dealing with social animals. Social contact is one of their basic needs for well-being.
H: Yes! Yes! Yes!
V: Your article, Helga, is such a good example, demonstrating the importance of a good relationship between the caretaker and his or her animals. Humane caretakers do not regard the animals as production units, such as milking machines, but as individual animals capable of feeling pain and emotions. Just watch cows grooming each other. They get a kick out of it! They would also undoubtedly enjoy it to be gently rubbed by the farmer. Why not? Kindness does not cost anything.
EDITOR: So the caretaker could have a tremendous influence on the well-being of the cattle, just as in the laboratory. A caretaker that has a good relationship with the . . .
H: Of ultimate importance is how the actual person that is doing the looking after does it.
V: When a milker is uptight or impatient, the cow is likely to give less milk than on the previous day when the milker had a good day and treated her more calmly, gently, and patiently.
EDITOR: Viktor was talking about how cows give more milk when the person coming in is in a good mood.
H: That's because the cows are calm, they're relaxed. Any kind of production gets lowered when there is stress.
EDITOR: I must ask you one question that's intrigued me for years. Someone said that Jersey cows will cry real tears if you bump them or if they're upset with a person or another cow.
H: I've never had any dealings with Jersey cows. However, I've seen Holsteins cry during dehorning. Apart from screaming and bellowing, they cried real tears just like people do.
V: I've never observed this.
EDITOR: This has been the result of my research. Half say they have seen tears, and half never noticed any.
H: Going back to the caretaker, if you give them a little bit of a scratching and so forth, it would improve the quality of their lives so much. But, from the point of view of the farmer, as soon as he becomes attached to them, then psychologically I think he'd be unable to continue the way that he does because part of dairy production and of course beef cattle, is the murder of the cows. You have to be prepared to murder them if you raise them. As soon as you treat them as you would treat a dog, you get the same psychological barrier to killing them.
V: I would like to throw out a warning. We shouldn't generalize it and let people get the message that, well you'd better be rough with your cows, otherwise you're getting into psychological trouble. I think there is a middle way. The macho person just doesn't fit into the milking parlor. The other person who is kind does not need to embrace his or her cows or get attached to the point where the cow becomes a pet. If you're a farmer you have to be realistic. If you choose to be a farmer, you have to make some profit out of your animals. But this does not need to hinder you from showing basic respect of life. As long as the animals are alive, you can and should respect them and provide them with humane care.
That's what I'm striving for in the biomedical industry. It's time that people become more conscious of the animals they experiment with, and show more reverence of life.
EDITOR: Viktor, I read an article recently that recommended the scientist working with an animal not be afraid of getting close to the animal because they'll learn so much more through studying the animal as an individual, and that it will not be as psychologically traumatic to the researcher as we might think.
V: Exactly. I think some consideration towards the animal is beneficial. It's beneficial for the farmer and for the scientist. I don't think you need to love the animal. The only thing you should do is respect the animal as a fellow living being.
EDITOR: One of Helga's questions was "What's normal family life for cattle?" Is that a good one for you?
H: I would be interested in what Viktor saw because I've observed just my cows, and although I let them do whatever they want, they've never had a large herd, or more endless room.
V: In our unmanaged African cattle, we found that very close ties existed between mother and daughter, between mother and son, between siblings, and between calves of the same age. They lived in close-knit families.
"Cattle Kindergarten" illustration about
here, with caption:
"Cattle Kindergarten" Ingrid SchaumburgMy wife, daughter, and I were fascinated when we observed a kind of kindergarten for the calves. They stayed together while the adults went off to graze and do adult things, just as with humans. These calves, we discovered, often formed life long relationships.
We followed up our original herd of 29 (which grew to more than 150 before we finished our 8 years of study). All the way through the last year we were able to trace friendship relationships between certain animals throughout this period of time. Partners showed a statistically significant preference for each other's company while grazing and would groom one another significantly more often than other members of the herd.
H: I found exactly the same thing. Even in my little herd, after they're done eating, they start licking each other, and it's almost always the same pairs. Once in a while somebody will go and be friendly to someone else but usually it's the same ones over and over again.
V: Yes, people who have never studied or been intimate with different animal species do not realize how social most of them are, and how they are like us -- and how wonderfully complex and individual they are.
EDITOR: Could you talk a little bit about individuality that both of you have noticed in cows?
H: With the cows I've worked with, some of them are definitely more assertive and others are shy. Some of them are much more curious than other ones. For instance, when we have company, I have one cow that always comes to see who it is or what's going on first. Whereas the other ones wait until she checks things out and then they come over. She's not the dominant cow, she's simply the most curious cow.
V: Like in humans, there are assertive, shy, fearful, leader type personalities in cows. Alma, for example, was not a very special cow: She was not high ranking, she wasn't very old, she wasn't very young, she wasn't very pretty, she was just an ordinary cow. Yet, she was leading the herd all eight years! When we opened the thornbush enclosure in the morning, it was Alma who decided when to go and where to go. Then she would lead the animals to a certain grazing area which she picked out. Everybody followed Alma, and when it was time to go to the water, it was again she who made the decision. If you would ask me what made her leader, I really don't know. Somehow she was the one who attracted more animals than any other.
EDITOR: Could you talk about the personality characteristics of your most unforgettable cow?
V: Alma was such an unforgettable cow. She was very, very special. Of the Scottish Highland cattle herd, it was the alpha female, Brindle, who stands out in my mind more than anybody else. Helga, I remember you wrote something about taming a cow. Maybe you will say "I made the same observations." Well, sometimes we had to examine an animal. We simply approached from behind until we could touch the upper area between the thighs. Most cows and even bulls will stop walking and allow you to scratch them. As a clear sign of enjoying it, they will arch their back and raise their tail. Brindel would get into a kind of blissful stance when our eight-year-old daughter, Catherine, gave her such a rub.
H: Yes, exactly. I thought it was because they can't reach there themselves.
V: I think they probably could, but it is very pleasurable and hypnotic for them, and they even seem to reach a state of bliss from this contact. They just love it.
H: I've even done that with my cows once in a while when the vet has to give them a shot or something. I scratch right there and they lift their tail up, and they can get their vein right underneath.
V: I couldn't help thinking, "I'm not sure how well this would work with a buffalo."
EDITOR: Helga, I think a question you had in reaction to hearing about "how cows have been bred," could you enlighten us, Viktor, on what cows were like before they were bred, their natural characteristics that might affect their well-being?
V: Originally, they come from southeastern Asia. The basic behavioral characteristics are still in the animals, and you can observe them. The most outstanding feature is undoubtedly their social disposition. Provide not only the adults, but also the calves with a social environment and you meet the principal condition for their behavioral and emotional well-being.
EDITOR: Are you saying they need opportunity to be social and enough space, as a basic social need?
V: This is another issue. Helga said the average family herd is about 100 animals. Is this correct Helga?
H: Yes. The ones that I've worked with have been.
V: Our African herd was not managed and had all the space it needed. When it reached the size of about 100 head, there was a tendency for whole families to stay more and more in the peripheries and gradually break away from the main herd altogether.
H: With family grouping in the wild, how long do the mothers nurse their babies?
V: Our African calves were weaned by their mother when they were about 10 months old. The bull calves were weaned significantly later (average 11.3 months) than the cow calves (8.8 months).
H: That's exactly what I've found with my cows. I had two boy babies and four girl babies. I let the cows do with them as they please. The mother to the two boys let them nurse until they were three years old. All four girls were weaned at a year and a half.
V: The same may apply for our own species.
H: They seem to sort of favor boys.
V: Biologically, this all makes sense because the female offspring reaches sexual maturity earlier then the male in most species. The young females mature quicker and become independent earlier than the young males, who can hang around with their moms longer since real life starts later for them, anyway.
Now the question is, "Why do farmers forcefully wean calves?" Let's restrict this question to beef cattle because, dairy cattle poses a different situation. The farmers force wean because they erroneously think that if they wean the calves earlier, the cows will get pregnant again earlier. On the African farm, we found actually the opposite! If you leave the calves with the mother, and let her decide when to wean their young, she will become pregnant again significantly earlier than cows whose calves are forcefully weaned! The explanation is simple: The distress associated with artificial weaning impacts on the cows reproductive efficiency. Distress affects human reproduction. We all know this but we forget it when we're dealing with animals. From my standpoint of view, weaning beef cattle artificially is counterproductive.
H: I'm sure it's counterproductive from the cow's point of view. Yet, the beef farmers that I know make sure that the cow gets pregnant when her calf is maybe one or two months old. She's bred back immediately even while her first calf is nursing. They wean the calf away from her just so that the new calf has milk.
H: By eleven months, she has a second calf already because she became pregnant immediately after having the first calf.
V: We had many cows who were just in this situation.
H: They nurse both calves?
V: No, they will wean the first calf around the time the second calf is born.
H: I see what you mean. She'll tell her calf that the milk's for the new kid.
V: Exactly.
EDITOR: With dairy cows, would that be different? I notice some of the farmers up here are afraid that the calves will drink too much milk.
V: You are right, and the farmers are right. It's a different story when dealing with dairy cows who have often just become man-created production units.
H: Dairy cows don't have a chance to be with their babies at all.
V: This reflects our society, our way of thinking.
EDITOR: So with dairy cows, they take the calves away immediately, in every case?
H: In every case I know of on modern American dairy farms. As far as I know, I have read about, I believe it was with African cattle, that at times they tie the calf up next to the mother and take some of the milk while the calf continued nursing. Is that true?
V: This is the traditional way of milking cows. You can easily "steal" milk from the cow while she is nursing her calf.
EDITOR: You think that would be more humane?
V: Certainly!
EDITOR: Before we run out of time, Viktor, Helga and I were both wondering how you became a member of the herd? How did you do it?
V: Well, I didn't do anything. I just let it happen.
H: Did you just camp out next to them and let their curiosity bring them to you?
V: Yes. We did that also with the buffalos.
H: How did you get the wild animals to let you scratch their rear-ends? How did you actually get them to come close enough so that they could tell it felt good?
V: These are social animals. I think there is a general tendency for social animals, if there is another species around, to find out what that different animal is, and how it responds! We didn't make ourselves a member of the herd. It just happened. The animals accepted us. Retrospectively, I couldn't tell what we did. It just happened.
EDITOR: I'm wondering. What were some of the things they did that made you know that you were a member of the herd?
V: You know, Manny, if you go on the pasture, cattle will initially increase the distance between themselves and you because you are not predictable, and hence potentially dangerous. If you repeat this exercise without ever giving the animals reason for fear or flight, they will gradually get used to your presence and finally accept you as a predictably harmless stranger. Continue this habituation process, and you will soon be welcomed into the herd. Later this may include grooming you!
EDITOR: It's very interesting to me that it has only been a recent discovery that probably the most important criteria for meeting the psychological well-being for dogs kept in captivity in a kennel or lab setting is SOCIALIZATION. They thought dogs would need and choose space and exercise most, but recent research shows that dogs need socialization with dogs and/or humans as one of the few BASIC needs such as shelter, food, and water. It seems as though, from what you're saying, that it's just as important for cattle and cows to have the opportunity to socialize.
V: I think it's important for all social species across the line. When we put social animals in captivity, they are absolutely dependent on us. We should be the very source of positive experience, and most animals certainly try to foster such a relationship. It's crucial for the animals that you are kind and that they have a chance to get close to you, to be groomed or to get a treat, because they know that you are potentially more dangerous than the inanimate environment. We are important social counterparts for captive animals.
EDITOR: I guess you know, Helga, that Viktor is responsible for proving that primates can do very well in pairs, that they didn't need to be singly housed, and that nothing could be more enriching, and alleviate more suffering for many of these individuals.
H: That's wonderful. The first psychological primate experiment I heard of was in Psychology 101 where they took a little monkey and deprived it of everything and saw how quickly it went crazy.
V: The instructors were probably very proud of the self-evident results! We probably shouldn't get into that!
EDITOR: I would love to see you, Viktor, around your laboratory -- relating with the primates. I have a feeling that you have a lot of fun and they have a lot of fun.
V: Yes! It's very rewarding.
EDITOR: Do you have a favorite personality in the lab?
V: Well, yes. I have to admit, however, that I feel more comfortable with cows than with monkeys! I'm pretty active, like monkeys are. Maybe I feel so much ease with cattle because they are counterbalancing that activity. With cattle I can just lie down with them, relax and enjoy the present moment. When you're dealing with nonhuman primates, particularly with rhesus macaques, you always have to be alert. There is always something going on because they are so intelligent and so smart that they give themselves relatively little opportunity to just sit down and have a good time.
H: Have you ever been with primates in the wild where you had a chance to see if they sort of relaxed the way cows would and in more natural situation?
V: Yes, in Africa, but I never lived with primates, so I really cannot answer you further. I have noticed that monkeys and baboons seemed more relaxed, more focused in a natural setting.
EDITOR: Jane Goodall would probably have a lot to say.
V: Yes, she would definitely say that animals in the wild relax more often. But it's the same with uncivilized human beings who retain the intrinsic gift of just living in the present moment without any guilt feelings. DOING NOTHING for us, in our civilized but crazy society, is so difficult because we always think we have to do something or else we fear that we lose something. Helga, don't you feel privileged to work with animals?
H: It's the most wonderful thing that I can imagine.
V: Do you not always learn from them?
H: Every day.
V: See!
H: And I fell into it. I had no idea that I would be making a life out of this. Every day when I get up, I know how lucky I am.
V: I think you are! In a way, I also feel privileged to work for the laboratory primates. I think it's wonderful to work with animals. Animals are truly honest and "act." We "react" to our feelings and past experiences and to our expectations, so we are never really honestly acting.
H: I've always described them as so honest.
V: Exactly.
H: Whatever it is. If they're angry, they're angry.
V: They're like little kids who haven't yet been brainwashed by society.
EDITOR: I wonder what you Viktor, and you Helga, learned today or this week with your animals?
H: Well we had the most unusual winter weather this week. If you listen to the radio and to people, you know, it's a major calamity. But the cows just took it in stride. They said, "Well, it's cold. Fine." That's all. They just went about their business without getting agitated about it.
EDITOR: Were they outside?
H: They have free access in and out. When it was windy, they went inside. When it wasn't windy, they went outside and felt the atmosphere. Of course, cows can take cold well, but they didn't act as if anything was terribly wrong. So, that's what I learned this week. Just take it in stride.
V: We had the same experience watching our squirrels and birds feeding on the balcony when it was 25 or 30 below zero. They just accepted the circumstance. The wonderful thing is when you visualize the little flesh on a cardinal and see such a critter at 20 below zero sitting there and just eating away, flying away. This is a miracle. It's just wonderful to be around with animals. We can learn so much from them, like how to flow with life's currents. Take things the way they are particularly things that you cannot change. You're not losing energy by worrying about them or being afraid of them. You can only win by flowing with the river.
H: I just want to say thank you, Manny and PSYeta, for the opportunity to talk with Viktor.
V: Thank you both for sharing your thoughts with me. Keep smiling!
EDITOR: Thank you both for this wonderful conversation!
He has taken pride in not having studied veterinary medicine to make a living from animals, but rather in order to work on behalf of animals, to alleviate suffering, and to speak on their behalf. He stated, "I love my profession because it enables me to be always in contact with animals and to care for them at the same time. Acknow-ledgement of feeling compassion for all living creatures, particularly those behind bars, is the greatest inspiration for my work and source of genuine happiness."
From 1974 to 1976, Viktor and his wife, Annie, began a behavioral investigation of a herd of semi-wild African cattle in Nairobi, near Kenya. In their spare time they hunted elephants, giraffes, antelopes, birds, and other wild animals with their cameras, camping in the wilderness, hiking in virgin forests. They then returned to accomplish a comparative investigation in semi-wild Scottish Highland cattle. Their daughter helped record data, making it into a family project, which meant a great deal to Viktor and Annie. They compared traditional and factory farm methods with natural methods of management and found that the less management, the better the cattle fared. The results of this work was threatening to many traditional and conventional farmers because they discovered that mothers do not wean their calves until they are about a year old and that, contrary to popular belief, conception was quicker from one calf to another when calves were NOT taken from their mothers and bottle-fed or sent for slaughter as is commonly practiced. They also came upon the amazing discovery that cattle have sophisticated, long-lasting, lifetime inter-personal relationships, even with unrelated animals. This suggested that the welfare of farm animals needed to take into consideration social needs of calves and cattle.
Dr. Reinhardt was lecturer and attending veterinarian at the Department of Animal Husbandry at the University of Bonn, Germany until 1982. For the next two years, he studied the behavior of the musk-ox and bison in Saskatchewan, Canada. Here he had an experience which touched him deeply. As Viktor puts it,"I found myself accepted as a strange, yet predictable herd member by those fierce-looking, magnificent semi-wild bison!"
In 1984, he became Assistant Research Animal Veterinarian at the Wisconsin Regional Primate Center, where he immediately became committed to find ways to provide more species-adequate cage enrichments for several hundred macaques.
Viktor continues to publish and investigate in order to make life better for animals. His hobbies include hiking, camping in the wilderness, listening to good music, and reading fine literature, all of which he and Annie share.
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| Copies of this journal are no longer available for sale, but our other two journals, Society & Animals and the Journal of Applied Animal Welfare Science, are available and subscriptions are quite affordable. They can be ordered online via our secure order page. |