Think whatever made it move is happy now in the fields of the hereafter? You believe in that kind of thing? Forget it. Meat doesn't have the brains.It just works till it dies or until someone cuts it up." I don't think Matthew Stokoe wanted to convey a particular message, or to be sensational. In my opinion he had an idea, then gave free rein to his imagination. This book is very brutal, gory, immoral, disturbing, disgusting, in short eviscerating. And more importantly, it’s very well written and coherent. I couldn’t put it down. I have to stop here or I will end up writing a novel - buy this book - follow the life of Steven and Lucy along with the herd of cows living under the city. Daisy (a left-leaning cow) : I believe it neatly encapsulates the human male infantile mindset, the fear and loathing of the mother, the horror of the female power of birth, of creation if you will, and the homo-erotic desire to be a man amongst men and to take charge of your manly destiny, all of which it appears has to be achieved by killing the mother figures. It’s all too lamely Freudian for me. Moo! Moo! I say trample him on aesthetic grounds, not on moral grounds.

My second main takeaway from Cows, Matthew Skokoe’s ambitious novel, was how consumed by normality the protagonist Steven was throughout the novel’s length. This is a common response among people who have suffered trauma. Steven watches his small television set with his paraplegic dog and plots how he can manifest his own little family (heteronormative, of course) into a salve for the wounds inflicted upon him by his mother. His range, however, to achieve this goal is limited to Lucy. I’m vegetarian myself, but I don’t have an issue with others eating meat. I just think everyone should take a minute to think about what they’re consuming and make better choices. Try and buy locally and organic etc. This is something I thought this book might touch on a little, as the author herself owns a farm, but it was far more about what cows are like as animals, which was totally fine! Until she started anthropomorphising them to the extreme! To make matters worse Steven is also forced to deal with a talking, plotting Guernsey. The cow, part of a herd that has escaped the slaughter house and now lives in tunnels under the city streets, along with a herd of other cows, wants to convince Steven to help them stop Cripps by killing him. Do you think factory farms are the main reason why cows get a reputation as being harmful for the environment? Roxanne : I think we’re wandering from the point. This situation we have here is like Bret Easton Ellis finding himself alone in a room full of women in 1991 just after you know what was published.It’s rather remarkable—they tried it on someone’s 12-year-old son, which makes you question someone’s parenting. That’s another major gift of the cow. Smallpox was the first disease to be essentially eradicated by vaccines. Feeding cows during the winter. Courtesy of Cursor Marketing Reading 'Cows' is like running some kind of marathon. Chances are, the most disturbing novel you've ever read is Disney-lite compared to this one. I'd suggest reading it over two or three days like I did. Despite its relatively minor length, reading it in one sitting might have you not leaving your shower for the rest of the day, and spreading it out over a week is kind of like staring at the sun. Do it for too long and you're bound to cause some permanent damage. Dawn O’Porter: the accessibility of her writing style will cement The Cows’ popularity. Photograph: Jenny Sharif I’m perfectly happy accepting that cows communicate with each other, of course they do, like all animals do! However, I found it a bit off-putting when Young would say something about cows “consulting” or “discussing the weather”. The whole thing left a bit of a weird taste in my mouth.

I think it’s interesting that you’re not suggesting we stop eating them—just that we need to radically rethink how we treat them. I’ll be totally honest with you. I might have given this book higher than three stars if not for the fear of what doing so might make people think of me. John Connell’s book begins in the middle of the night during one of the wettest winters on record. He is delivering a calf by himself for the first time: “There is blood on my arms and face, but it is a pleasing blood, the blood of life.” It’s a moment of responsibility when Connell needs to prove to himself and his father that he is capable of managing the farm his family has owned for 30 years. The delivery is successful – “he is a fine wee bull” – and Connell passes the test: “Manhood is an important thing in this land. Farming gives us our sense of it, our understanding of ourselves.”

Rosamund Young driver Kite’s Nest Farm i Gloucestershire i England. Gården er kendt for at producere bæredygtige fødevarer, og den drives ud fra grundprincipper om god dyrevelfærd – og mere til. Hendes forældre startede som selvstændige landmænd på Kite’s Nest Farm I 1953, og her begav de sig ud i at drive et økologisk landbrug, før begrebet ’økologi’ overhovedet var opfundet.