When I was in Ireland, my host took me out to see the Irish countryside. Once in a while, I would ask to stop to take pictures. Finally, she expressed surprise at the subjects of my pictures and said, “I thought you would want to take pictures of the wonderful countryside but you just want to take pictures of cows.”

It’s true. In Europe, the cities and towns are interspersed with countryside. So, you don’t have to travel very far to see cows out in the pastures. However, like in the U.S. you rarely see milk cows outdoors. Most of them are in barns in stalls so that they do not have to be brought to their milk machines each time. Most of the cattle that you see outdoors are beef cattle. How do I know? Milk cows these days have udders so swollen and huge that the cows walk with their legs wide apart in discomfort.

Because Ireland still has some family farms, you do see some milk cows out there, although they are in the same state of discomfort due to their huge udders. The Irish countryside is miles and miles of pastureland. There are very few trees left and equally few birds. I wonder if there are any forests at all. Most of the land is used for grazing.

When you see all this you begin to understand the figures they quote in the books. A herd of cattle (say about 20) need many acres so that they can be rotated from one pasture to another till the grass grows back on the first. But just one acre will grow enough cauliflower or potatoes to fill the shelves in all the supermarkets around. A vegetarian needs .5 acres for sustenance, and a vegan even less. A meat eater needs 20 acres. At SHARAN we teach people a method of organic farming whereby a family of five can grow all their food needs on just a quarter acre, and have surplus to sell!

In Ireland, you see sheep and cattle outdoors but hens and pigs are rare even though the form a large part of the Irish diet. They go out only when its time for slaughter. I told my Irish host that I would like to see a ‘piggery’. She made arrangements and we visited one of the better ones out there. More on that in my next blog post.

Nandita

Visit SHARAN online at http://sharan.crossroad-solutions.com/home.php.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
*SHARAN means “sanctuary” or “protection” in Hindi. It is also an anagram for Sanctuary for Health and Reconnection to Animals and Nature.

Through SHARAN, our aim is to:

* protect the environment by practising and spreading organic farming
* protect farm animals and disseminate information on how a vegan diet can
help save the planet as well as billions of farm animals from unfathomable

Photo: the beautiful Irish countryside with a cow with huge udders