Holy Cow

Milk appeared with the first mammals on the planet earth about 500 million years ago. Man, a recent creature of evolution, emerged only three million years ago. Like other mammals, man consumed milk of only his mother until weaned and then lived on fruit and berries and meat or fish. How he began to use milk from other mammalian species is a revealing story. It began recently (at the most, 10,000 years ago) when he learned to domesticate animals, as evidenced by the frescoes in the Saharian Tibesti and the stone engravings in the Mont Bego region, near Nice, France. The first historical indication of the use of cows for dairy products appears on a Mesopotamian bas-relief at Al-Ubaid (dating from 3200 BC) and a mastaba of Metete fresco at the Louvre (2400 BC).

To understand the deep-rooted relationship of man and cow, we must review the historical forces which brought man and cow, the two mammals so diverse, so close.

Man's first residence, the Bible tells us, was a garden, planted by the Creator, known as Eden, or paradise. The four rivers of paradise consisted of milk, wine, honey and oil. Adam and Eve, who were amply provided for, tasted the forbidden fruit, contrary to the command of their Creator, were driven from the garden, and subjected to punishments which were thus passed down to posterity.

After their expulsion from paradise Adam and Eve's first concern was food, with body covering to protect them from the inclement weather running a close second till, "The Lord God made coats of skins and clothed them." Where these skins came from is not clear because up to that time no animals had died since natural death had not entered the world. We must theorize, therefore, that these skins came from the sacrifice of some four-legged creatures who were easily overwhelmed by the bewildered man.

This, probably, marked the beginning of a relationship between man and beast that would forever change the course of evolution. Whether we rely on the Biblical account or the scientific version, which defines "first" as eons, we know the first thing man did was to subdue and domesticate animals, the choicest being the herbivorous, or plant-eating types, which did not threaten him. Moreover, man found cows not only gentle and docile, but yielding food and clothing. Add to this the cow's ability and willingness to labor for him and he had the perfect domestic animal.

As a result, of all the four-legged animals, the cows became most essential to the human race. Man offered much care to this species and it propagated more extensively than any other animal species. "Doth God take care for oxen?" (1 Cor. 9:9) was the inquiry of the inspired Paul; and from his own response we learn that this care was altogether for man's sake.

Records describing Adam and Cain as "tillers of the ground," also inform us that Abel was a keeper of sheep (Gen. 4:2). We also read of herds of cattle before the Deluge. Josephus, well versed in the traditional as well as the written history of that early age, says that Abel brought milk and the first fruits of his flocks as offerings to the Creator, who was more delighted and more honored with oblations which grew naturally of their own accord, than with inventions of a covetous man whose offerings were got by forcing the ground (Book I. p. 9).

However, the first professional herdsman Jabal, the son of Lamach, was born during the lifetime of Adam. He improved techniques of animal husbandry to make it a profitable occupation. Tending flocks and herds, therefore, became man's primary employment soon after his expulsion from Eden, an occupation which endured for generations.

In those earliest ages, before the art of agriculture developed, the earth's surface was common property and equally claimed by all. All inhabitants of the earth were free to pasture their flocks and herds and pitch their tents, wherever their fancy directed, or the Almighty guided. It was an open invitation to a nomadic life.After the catastrophe of the Deluge, the population of the world shrank to one family; and the original grant of dominion over the kingdom of nature to man was not only renewed but extended and established by a solemn covenant for "perpetual generations." Noah accordingly became a husbandman, and planted a vineyard (Gen 9:20); and during the patriarchal ages, and later in the rural economy of the Israelites, the cattle was the principle portion of their wealth.

Abraham and Jacob were rich in cattle (Gen. 24:35, 30:43). Job, a contemporary with Isaac, enjoyed high reputation because of his large collection of cattle (Job 1:3). Moses and David were also shepherd.

The herds of many of the patriarchal shepherds were quite large. So large was the stock of Abraham and Lot that they were obliged to separate for the same reasons AT&T was broken up the U.S. Supreme Court. From the gift of 580 head of various animals given by Jacob to his brother Esau, we get some idea of the countless number of cattle which he had gained in the service of Laban.

The great importance attached to flocks and herds is inferred from the many laws and regulations in relation to them laid down by Moses. Religious sacrifices signify parting with most precious possessions. Cow is a sacrificial animal to muslims. Several verses in the second surah or segment of the Koran, The Cow, describe in detail how to select cows for sacrifice.

There is enough evidence to assume that man started using cow's milk soon after his exile from Eden. About 1900 years before the Christian era, Abraham, the chief of a pastoral tribe, received a visit from angels, in the plains of Mamre: "He lifted up his eyes and looked, and lo, three men stood by him: and when he saw them he ran to meet them from his tent-door, and bowed himself towards the ground and said 'My lord, if now I have found favor in thy sight, pass not away, I pray thee, from thy servant.'" He then instructed Sarah to prepare the bread, while he went in person to select the best calf from the herd, and he took butter and milk, and the calf which he had dressed, and set it before them, who in his presence partook of the refreshment, beneath the shade of a tree near the door of his tent.

The importance of milk is inferred from the frequent metaphorical use of the term in the sacred writings. Palestine is described as a land, "flowing with milk and honey," indicating its extraordinary fertility and producing all the comforts and necessities of life. The terms "wine and milk," were used to express all kinds of spiritual blessings and privileges. The paradise offered in the Koran includes "a similitude of the Gardens which those who keep their duty to Allah are promised: Therein are rivers of water unpolluted, and rivers of milk whereof the flavour changeth not, and rivers of wine delicious to the drinkers, and rivers of clear-run honey" (Koran 47:15).

From the earliest times, the survival of the Middle Eastern husbandman depended upon the services of oxen. Elisha was "ploughing with twelve yoke of oxen," when he received the mantle of Elijah. The Scripture makes frequent references to the importance of their labors. So indispensable were they considered in the days of Solomon that he declares in one of his proverbs, "Where no oxen are, the crib is clear [empty] but much increase is by the strength of the ox."

The ancient pastoral life soon led to a more organized patriarchal form of government. The Hycsos, or shepherd kings were a nomadic people, who conquered the greater part of Egypt and held it from 1700-1500 B.C. before being subdued by Tethmosis, the king of Thebes.

The patriarchal shepherds formed alliances with kings but not with their people. They lived a simple and laborious life in perfect freedom. Refusing to confine themselves to any particular spot, they lived in tents, and moved from place to place to find pasture for their cattle. "In the wealth, the power, and the splendor of patriarchal shepherds, we discover the rudiments of regal grandeur and authority; and in their numerous and hardy retainers, the germ of potent empires," Robert Hartley wrote in 1842.

The patriarchs did not commit their cattle solely to the care of servants; they tended them in person, or placed them under the supervision of their sons and daughters, who were taught to perform, without reluctance, the meanest services. This primeval simplicity was long retained among the Greeks. The tradition continued with the Turkomans, the Arabian shepherds (the endangered species in these days of OPEC maneuvers), and in the Brahmins of India. Even 20th century American cowboys ooze the spirit of the ancient shepherds.Aside from the Bible, we have ample historical evidence of the relationship of man and cow down through the centuries.

Caucasus is the name of a chain of mountains in western Asia, of which Ararat is a part where the ark rested; the names of Taurus and Ararat are common over the whole range. It is remarkable that the markings on the medals of most of the ancient cities and countries around the mountains of Caucasus have the bull as the prevailing emblem. Caucasus is commemorated under the name Taurus, the bull, either alone or united with other symbols. The word "taur" in many languages -- Spanish, French, Latin, Greek, Arabic and Chaldee, a language spoken around mount Taurus -- means bull. The excavations at Moenjodaro, dating to 3000 B.C., in the Indus Valley of Pakistan have yielded seals and coins, the majority of which are engraved with the shape of the bull.

Egypt became a mighty empire within four to five centuries after the flood and even though its land was unsuitable for pasturage, the monarch of the country, the Pharaoh, had a considerable number of cattle. When Abraham traveled to Egypt, he received gift of sheep and cattle from Pharaoh.

Hesiod, a Greek poet of the ninth century B.C., praises the pastoral occupation. He was probably a shepherd himself and tended his flock at the foot of Mount Helicon in Boeotia. Homer, contemporary to Hesiod, frequently mentions milk and cheese as do Theocritus, Euripides and other poets. Butter was probably unknown in Greece before the time of Herodotus, who lived in the fifth century B.C. Hippocrates, a contemporary of Herodotus, in his account of the Scythians (the tribes that migrated northward), describes with great minuteness their process of butter-making, and highly commends milk as a healthy and nourishing food. Aristotle, the distinguished natural historian, about a century later describes how important milk and cheese were to human sustenance in his times.

Ancient Rome was built by hunters and herdsmen. Romulus, its founder, 754 B.C., traced a furrow round the Palatine hill with a plough drawn by two milk-white cattle, and enclosed the area with a wall of earth. He then poured out milk to conciliate the gods. More than 2700 years later the devotional offering of milk still continues. In 1986, in Aurora, Illinois, when a new Hindu temple was dedicated, statues of the deities were bathed in milk, thanks to local firemen who helped temple officials climb to the top where the ceremony was performed.

Cows were so highly valued in Ancient Rome that they were only slaughtered on extraordinary occasions and those who slaughtered cattle for their guests were excommunicated.

Virgil devoted his third Georgic to the subject of breeding cattle and his Ecologues abound throughout with illusions to pastoral life. Caesar's commentaries tell us that early Britons neglected the plough and lived upon the milk and flesh of cattle.

During this period the deification of the cow was widespread. Taurus the bull and his constellation were placed in the zodiac. The bull was worshipped as the god, Apis, in Egypt and dedicated to Osiris, to whom was ascribed the origin of agriculture. From this the Greeks derived the minotaur, and the Israelites the idea of the golden calf they made and worshipped in the wilderness. At Heliopolis, divine honors were paid to Mnesis, under the form of the ox, while the cow was consecrated to Isis.

The Zor Aster, or sacred bull, appears to have been worshipped in some way throughout Egypt. The sacred bull of the Hindus, rambles about the country without interference. Fondling and feeding him is considered a noble act. So great is the reverence of the Hindus for the cow that they would rather sacrifice their family than slay one of them. The spread of Roman empire saw considerable improvements in the art of agriculture and domestication of animals and even savage nations beyond the Roman empire benefitted from these improvements.

The Dark Age gave the cattle ranching a new impetus as most citizens reverted to pastoral life. In these unsettled times few would sow without the prospect of being able to reap. Cattle were also easy to hide when confronted with an enemy.

The origin of the domestic European cow is debatable. Some believe it sprang from the Indian and European buffalo, others trace it to the wild cattle of Germany or Poland. Still others believe our present cattle never existed in the wild. Regardless, the European cows are the only remaining domesticated types in most of the world today. They have multiplied innumerably throughout Europe, in north and south Africa and in the Americas. They range from the cows of Lithuania, which are almost as large as the elephant, to those of the Grampian Hills which are as small as goats. Bison, a species of cow, resemble lion more than bovines. Some cows are so grovelling and inactive, they scarcely know the way from their stall to their pasture. Yet another breed, belonging to the Hottentots of Africa are easily trained to keep other animals from trespassing. They will also fight their master's battles, killing his enemies with their horns. Our American dairy cows have such little stamina that they get tired travelling twice a day back and forth from the barn to their pasture; while the cattle of Turks are used as riding animals, and to draw carriages. Those of the Indian subcontinent can beat horses at full trot.

Some cows yield upwards of 10 gallons of milk per day; others will not give that much in 100 days. Yet, all of these come from same species and can mate with each other. The evolution of the cow is a true marvel of genetic transformation brought about by the climate and human ingenuity. Burchell, in the first volume of his travels into the interior of Africa, gives the following description of the training of cattle in that country more than 150 years ago:

Many other travelers of that time report strange customs and techniques. For example, Major Denham wrote fromcentral Africa: The beasts of burden used by inhabitants, are the bullock and the ass. An animal so serviceable may not go without its reward. Living with man for so long, the cow seems to have developed a certain sense of pride and vanity. Stories, whether fictitious or not, abound concerning the maternal affection of the cow, his communication with man and his protection of him from wild beasts. Cattle were first transported to South America from the Canary Islands and Europe in 1527. A few years after that, when the Spaniards settled here, they were shocked to learn how fast they had multiplied. The richest cowboy in South America was D. G. Ordungna who owned more than 200,000 cows yielding over 36,000 calves per year.

The history of the pilgrim settlers in America is rife with stories of cattle. In 1624, four years after the arrival of the Mayflower at Plymouth Rock, Edward Winslow, an agent whom the colony sent to England, brought back with him "three heifers and a bull." Up to that time the settlers were without milk. That same year, James Shirley, a London merchant and a friend of the pilgrims, gave a heifer to the plantation to begin a stock for the poor. Fourteen years later the townsmen of New Plymouth gathered at the governor's call to dispose off the large stock bred from James Shirley's heifer.

Cattle were imported into the mid-Atlantic states a few years after their introduction into New England. In 1625, De Laet, in describing the advantages of New-Netherlands (New York) for colonization, said:"It is a fine and delightful land, full of fine trees and also vines; wine might be made here, and the grape cultivated. Nothing is wanted but cattle, and these might be easily transported."

The Liberties and Exemptions Act of 1629 which encouraged entrepreneurs to establish plant colonies and import cattle had significant influence in the expansion of ranching.Within 200 years of the introduction of the cow to the U.S., their number had multiplied to about eight million giving dairies an annual milk sale of over $65 million in 1840. Hides, tallows, etc. accounted for another $20 million and another $15 million from cattle slaughtered for meat, all adding to total to over $100 million, a sum of no small importance 150 years ago.

Today, there is one cow for every 10 inhabitants or about 25 million cattle, roaming the pastures of the United States of America and yielding in trade and business several billion dollars, making it one of the most important business activities in the country.

The value of this class of animals is summarized in the comments of an accomplished zoologist, 150 years ago:

A Stone Age artist painted a red cow on the wall of a cave in Lascaux, France sometime between 10,000 to 15,000 B.C. This was the earliest known painting by man. The lovers of paintings of cows, who call themselves "boviniacs," say that the cow is an icon deeply rooted in history. The cow has been the subject of Greek myth and religious worship, of elegant verse and classic paintings.

Indeed, the cow is gaining recognition in American pop culture. Americans are in the midst of a cow boom. Cows have appeared suddenly on pillows, place mats, kitchen towels, gift wraps, greeting cards, T-shirts, pot holders, etc. There are stuffed cows, and handbags, furniture, puppets and bookends shaped like cows. "A few years ago it was the unicorn. Last year it was dinosaur. But the dinosaurs are extinct. Cows are in." says Sharon Shepperd.

What is the appeal of the cow? Gary Larson, a cartoonist who frequently drawn cows in his comic strip "The Far Side," says cows appeal to him because they seem incapable of doing anything but eating and providing milk and steaks. "The cow is always such a non sequitur in the animal world. I find them innately humorous. They're these big animals that have been developed by mankind over the years to be pretty much a living, breathing food machine, and that's about all they are. To elevate them into various situations, it somehow enhances the humor."

Gary Larson draws cows taking tractors for joy rides, going on vacation -- "The Holsteins visit the Grand Canyon" -- and hiding their secret cocktail hour from humans. In one of Larson's cartoons, the cows first appear standing around on their hind legs, chatting among themselves. Then a lookout cow shouts "Car!" and the cows drop to four legs and resume cow-like behavior as the car passes.

Most people love cows for the simple way of life they represent. "They are so unstressful. I wanted them in my backyard because they remind me that I can be like that," says Katherine Revoir, an artist in Mill Valley, California. The relationship between man and cow, holy or not, goes back a long time and will hardly change despite scientific findings that both man and cow will do better if they leave each other alone.