Cowed: The Hidden Impact of 93 Million Cows on America's Health, Economy, Politics, Culture, and Environment

by Denis Hayes, Gail Boyer Hayes

As a source of labor and food, cows were integral to the settlement of the American frontier, and they have placed an indelible stamp on American culture, politics, and economics. In Cowed, Denis and Gail Boyer Hayes offer a nuanced look at our centuries-long relationship with this animal how cows helped us tame the wild American landscape and how their outsized influence on soil and air quality today threatens plant and animal populations and endangers our own well-being.

The current national herd of 93 million cows is wasteful and unsustainable and poses a threat to our environment and health. To produce one calorie of beef protein requires 40 calories of energy energy that could be used to light homes, transport water, or grow crops.

Written by two lifelong advocates of sustainable living, Cowed explores the alarming effects of our dependence on cows, and it proposes practical ways to improve our health while protecting the environment."

Genres: Nonfiction, Food, Environment, Animals, Science, Nature

400 pages, Hardcover

First published March 9, 2015

Reviews

[Karel Baloun · Rating 5 out of 5]

The very best book on Cows — obviously about our entire modern lifestyle and the surprisingly large part cows play in it. Very moooving.

We must all buy “grass fed and finished organic” meat and dairy.

CAFOs are hell, to animals, the environment and human health. They should be completely banned, and it’s not even clear they make economic sense... mostly they are driven by greed, worker abuse and corporate power.

Many powerful stories, including diseases worse than MRSA and that even ethanol fermentation requires antibiotics to hold back lactobaccilus. Feeding cows prion laced protein supplements from other dead mammals continues, and much vCJD still lays hidden in the normal human incubation period. As of 2012, mad cow is in California’s Tulare County — The nation’s top dairy producing county.

“The USDA forbids citizens, including cow owners, from testing cows at their own expense [for mad cow disease]” p204. Furthermore, a business venture, Creekstone, was banned from testing and certifying clean meat, and their lawsuit against the ban failed. p207.

Yes, raw cow brain is indeed still being sold as a human health supplement, p205,p257. Really, as confirmed by a 2017 google search.

Snap/WIC forbids recipients from spending their ETC card credit on organic food, including organic milk and cheese. p233 crazy!

“In my dream world, people who want to work with animals would be able to do so where they grew up.” -Kevin Maas, p123

Robots already milk better than humans, in every way. Better for the farm, for the cows and for the milk. Especially organic milk! Because with organic the health of the cow is more valuable. p295-297

More so than any other nonfiction book about agricultural policy, this book is rather a page turner. It is even graced with bits of lighthearted humor which I think I attribute to Gail.

[Nathan Albright · Rating 2 out of 5]

The problem with this book is that the authors have such wacky politics and such ferocious leftist biases that this book is completely beyond the abilities of the authors to deal with in a reasonable or successful manner. And that is a shame. Somewhere here there is a story that could be told well, a story about the interaction of corporate greed and the struggle of people to maintain family farms over generations and the consolidation of business in various aspects of agriculture. Yet that story is simply not told here because the author is so biased against business at all that no one other than fellow hippies and leftist activists within government ranks can get a positive hearing at all. The authors simply lack credibility because their bias is too strong and too consistent to make them able to discuss cows or farming fairly. And that bias makes this book impossible to recommend, because unless you already agree with the authors and their laughable claims to be people who subscribe to the New York Times but are able to talk fairly with farmers, this book will strike the reader as completely ridiculous.

This book is a sizable one of about 300 pages or so. It begins with the authors setting out their perspective and approach. After that comes a discussion of the popularity of cows (1), as well as their massive presence in the United States and even other places around the world (2). There is a discussion of the influence of cows and products made by cows in the home (3), as well as questions about biogas and health issues (4). There is a discussion of milking (5) as well as the meat industry (6), where the authors indulge in rather stereotypical fearmongering as a way of trying to make their point about food. Then there is a discussion of how cows are fed, which includes cannibalizing cows and rendered cow parts to give more protein to cows, quite against their own will and inclination and well-being (7), and then the authors' plug for organic beef and dairy (8) that would be grown by friends and allies of the author. This leads to a closing section where the authors contrast their own leftist political views with a caricatured view of the opposition (9), as well as a call on people not to be cruel (10), after which there is a vain attempt at prophetic speculation, acknowledgements, notes, and an index.

The biggest thing that this book has going for it is a massive double standard. On the one hand, the authors claim to support eating beef when it is raised organically by local sources, but on the other hand, the authors support vegetarianism and show a disdain for dairy's influence on the diet, even if they recognize that it is complicated trying to prove what is and what is not healthy. One would think that the difficulty of proof would lower the strident tone and firm statements of belief, but no, that is not the case. Similarly, the authors show a disdain for the high-tech ways in which cows are fed to fatten them up by eating various things, while showing fondness for the vat-made fungal sourced fake meat that may be disastrously unhealthy for us as human beings. Again and again, the authors show themselves unable or unwilling to give a fair-shake to anyone whose ideas are not clearly left of center, and whether they are dealing with politics or technology or culture, it is only those of their ilk who are viewed positively, which makes this book positively trash, and of very little value to anyone else, except as a statement of the authors' own beliefs.

[Lmichelleb · Rating 4 out of 5]

I read this thinking to better understand my vegan step-daughter's perspective, thinking this would be outside my comfort zone. I am surprised to find a lot to relate to and agree with here. This is not a book touting veganism, but rather responsible living with the resources we have, awareness and not just blind, go-with-the-flow thinking. The authors did a great job of sharing information but not moralizing or shaming. They took a stand on some issues, but with evidence and openness, and I detected no arrogance. I appreciated the humble presentation of experiences and research and the gentle guiding of me as the reader to think more deeply about my food, where it comes from, and how farming practices of various kinds are affecting the world I live in.

I read this slowly over several months and find it has helped me adjust both my thinking on certain issues as well as my actions. Partly due to this book, my family finally became part of a local CSA and we are learning about better practices to use on our own small plot of land, taking our stewardship of that land even more seriously.

[Camille McCarthy · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book managed to be comprehensive but not overwhelming. It has contributed to my resolve to change my eating habits merely through the straightforward, blunt information provided by the authors and through the conclusions they came to after studying cows more deeply. I will most certainly cut my dairy consumption in half, only buying organic products.
I expected this book to be a lot like "Cowspiracy" but it was a bit more subtle and went into some other aspects of the cattle industry; for instance, how cows can actually be beneficial to certain habitats that are not fit for growing vegetables and fruit. It was staunchly against CAFOs, and gave many reasons behind this position. They also had examples of sustainable farming practices and ways that farmers were taking care of their land, even one instance where there is a trumpeter swan sanctuary on a cattle farm and they exist in a mutually beneficial way. I liked seeing these examples because it shows that it is possible to raise cattle and still treat the land and the animals as living creatures; the problem is when profit is all you care about and you have subsidies in your favor to try and squeeze every last bit of productivity out of your surroundings while destroying them.
For me, the most frightening chapters were the one on antibiotic use and the one on mad cow disease. I am also appalled at the ag-gag laws and the food libel laws, which pretty much makes us unable to talk about the negative aspects of the food industry and thus makes it more difficult to change those horrible practices.
I had some idea of how bad corn was for cows from watching "Food, Inc." and other documentaries, but reading more about it makes me even more horrified.
The most surprising part of the book was perhaps the section on bison. I had no idea that bisons were wiped out on purpose because they were of prime importance to the Native Americans and this was just another way of crushing them. It was despicable. Even today, people are against the idea of bison roaming the prairies because it might take up cattle land, even though bison co-evolved with the habitat so they are more suited to it and able to actually help restore it to its natural state. They also don't require much food because they are so much better than cows at foraging for their own feed. Bison is apparently much more sustainable than cow meat.
I though this book was exceptionally well-done and presented the topic in an interesting way. I enjoyed the small personal touches that the authors put in, telling of their experiences while researching for the book and how they changed their own habits as a result of what they had learned. It certainly made me appreciate cows even more.
Highly recommended for everyone.

[Martin Brown · Rating 4 out of 5]

Do Cows hibernate Dad? asked one of my sons a decade or so ago when we moved into rural Lancashire, noticing that cows were absent in the fields during winter months and as then not aware of the noisy, steamy and rather smelly over wintering cow sheds.

One of the rural spring treats which we will witness soon, is when the cows are let out into the spring green fields, where they literally can jump for joy like spring lambs. the word cavorting* would seem invited for just this occasion.

Cowed is an entertaining and educating insight into the American relationship with cattle, triggered by the authors visit in the UK and noticing how very different cattle in UK fields appeared to that seen or indeed out of sight in the US.

From Cowboys through to intelligent, mechanised milking, Denis and Gail provide real insights from their environmentalism knowledge, (Denis was cofounder of Earthday in the 70’s, now founder /CEO of the Bullitt Foundation in Seattle and a recent guest on our #sustldrconv series, Gail is an Environmental lawyer, health writer and editor)

Throughout, I was reminded of John Muir’s comment that ‘when we tug on one part of nature we find it joined to everything else”, This may be as on the day I started reading Cowed, I visited a botanical garden in Vancouver where this quote was engraved into the floor and entrance screens.

Nevertheless, for me it summed up one of Cowed’s core themes. That the Cow, which we have removed from natural habituation and domesticated or rather industricated, is now so intrinsically linked to so many aspects of our lives from food to furniture and in doing so, uncoupled from its natural connections and bio-relationship with soil, air and water.

Cowed provided, for me a straightforward explanation of the recent research, debate and controversy on natural cattle grazing patterns and impact for soil carbon sequestration based around the work of Allan Savory. This is something I had come across before on a TED talk but poorly understood.

Living in rural Lancashire I easily recognised the description of dairy farming within the first few pages, but I struggled to recognise the US description of cattle management in the remainder of the book, perhaps with the exception of the cattle ranching images from old Westerns!. Yet Cowed does highlight issues we here in the UK need to be aware of and guard against as concepts of mega farms are proposed and debated here.

*to jump or move around in a playful way, sometimes noisily, and often in a sexual way

[Radiantflux · Rating 3 out of 5]

40th book for 2016.

For some reason, although I liked the writing, I found this a slow read.

Overall the book is very informative, albeit US-centric. I would have liked a longer discussion on the environmental costs of cattle, rather than health and animal rights issues, but that's just a personal bias.

The discussion of mad cow disease and the time bomb waiting to happen in the US was particularly interesting though.

As a long-term vegan, it can be good to read a book like this every few years, just to refresh why you chose to do what you do, but the authors themselves are certainly pro-cows and push for an organic dairy/beef line for environmental, health and animal rights issues.

So overall a good, but not terribly exciting read: a bit like chewing grass on an organic farm all day long.

[Cary Neeper · Rating 5 out of 5]

The title says it all--almost. The impact is much larger than we have imagined. In startling detail, the Hayes describe the harm we have done to our country and ourselves by tolerating the overproduction and cruel practices used to create beef, and veal, and milk.

The authors illustrate sensitive ways to raise cattle, providing them with longer, productive lives. They quote Temple Grandin, reminding us how she has instructed the industry in humane practices. A few pages are devoted to the clear hormonal evidence for bovine emotion and suffering--their sentience, which we can no longer deny. Their conclusions are clear: we must eat less beef and do away with feed lots.
Several excellent pages are devoted to the work of Allan Savory, who has restored thousands of deserts in Africa, turning them into green grazing lands by “holistic management” of cattle grazing land. The Hayes point out lessons learned—1) that some deserts are natural and needed to reflect some solar heat and 2) that the complexity of restoring grass lands requires due diligence in watching the ground and keeping the herds moving continuous, as they did in the early days of Africa.

Perhaps the most revealing notes are the author’s summary of how big business and money have taken over corn, “grain facilities”, and meatpacking. These “…giant interests have funded the campaign of both Republicans and Democrats. Hence small farmers supported the “candidate who promised to kick the government off the farm”

Do read this book. You’ll eat less beef, if any.

[Lizzy · Rating 3 out of 5]

A very thorough overview, but sadly plagued by the usual problems affecting environmental books written by wealthy laypeople. Many oversimplifications, bad descriptions of scientific ideas, and overemphasizing dairy’s possible, more tenuous problems as gospel truth rather than hypothesized components of a multifactorial complex issue. The writing is decently engaging, but not great, with many simple, short sentences (but good for staying easy to follow for scientific ideas).

I like the breadth of the book, even when it gets silly, and the attempts at including more scientific and university driven data. I do not like the oversimplified worldview and one sided opinions, especially not their inane personal views. I would’ve liked a more nuanced description of some topics (like the issues with organic farming and the suffering some animals face since they can never get antibiotics...and are often just sold to conventional producers, or how we don’t have enough land to feed everyone dairy and meat using organic principles). I do like that they like cows. :)

[Lisa · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book took much, much longer to finish than I expected. It wasn't that content or subject matter that was challenging but the tone of voice. The authors candidly stated their opinions to tell you, the reader, what to think. This was not at all necessary and somewhat insulting given they had made their points clear in the preceeding paragraphs. I also wished they'd gone into more depth and used more data/trusted research sources than citing mostly news articles. I don't disagree with the conclusions in this book but I never connected with the authors nor found them credible. Their agenda is evident and their arguments feel like oversimplifications. Although, I appreciated the broad coverage of concerns and gleaned a cursory understanding of how dairy and beef industries operate, I'm sure there's a more balanced book out there that captures the nuances of the unfortunate situation we are in. If only I had encountered that book instead!

[Elise · Rating 3 out of 5]

Concentrated animal feeding operation = CAFO

"Compared to other meat sources (like pork and poultry), conventional grain-finished feedlot beef produces five times more global warming per calories, requires eleven times more water, and uses twenty-eight times as much land. Eating a pound of beef has a greater climatic impact than burning a gallon of gasoline." p. 6

Livestock account for 14.5 percent of human-caused greenhouse gas emissions (meet cows 41 percent of that, dairy 19) p. 33

840 gallons of water for one pound of grain-fed beef p. 37

Depletion of the Ogallala aquifer p. 40

Loess soil p. 45

Farm improvements: change cow diet to reduce emissions, conserve more soil and water, vermicomposting, leasers responsible for land quality, and shift to perennial crops / regenerative agriculture p. 70

Only 10% of energy moves from one food chain level to the next p. 74

Beef produced in 40:1 energy to meat ratio, milk 14:1 p. 75

Set grain prices - 1973 Farm Bill p. 83

80 percent of all antibiotics in US are used for healthy animals in factory farms p. 113

Potential for milk terrorism? p. 147

Self-milking machines p. 294

[Hallie · Rating 4 out of 5]

Great book - I originally thought it would only cover the cattle industry from a food sustainability and healthfulness perspective, but this is actually so much more than that. It gives a pretty wide view of the rise of the industry in the US, its current environmental implications, its implications on human health. Definitely a good read. Only downside is the rather confusing/annoying way in which the authors refer to themselves in the third person in the book - needed as there's dual authorship, but confusing nonetheless as the voice changes back and forth.

[Sheila · Rating 5 out of 5]

Like "Fast Food Nation" by Eric Schlosser, this books stops your fork mid-journey. Ugh. If you don't mind being frightened by the truth, read this book. It could save, or at least, prolong your life. A reformist, Hayes thinks the solution is for everyone to buy only organic, grass-fed beef. You may realize that the capitalist machine is speeding downhill too fast to stop it, but read the book anyway. It has enough detail to convince you to change your eating habits, and may sensitize you to the suffering of billions of animals.

[Alison · Rating 4 out of 5]

One thing I very much appreciated in this book was that it didn’t push a vegan or meatless agenda. It merely gave me the facts about the dairy and beef industry with a lean to grass-fed and organic, but it never pushed over the line of villains and “you shouldn’t’s.” Great information and insights. Well researched and easy to read.

[Paul Hackley · Rating 1 out of 5]

Boring

[Angie · Rating 4 out of 5]

Very interesting and not written in a forceful way. However, it could have used an other round of editing and some of the sentences do not flow well.

[Elizabeth Gallagher · Rating 5 out of 5]

I appreciate the balance between opinion and fact. The authors actively acknowledge their bias and where research is lacking.

[Kate Elizabeth · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book moved kind of slowly for me - I'm a bit unclear on its intended audience, because people who pay attention to how their food is produced probably know a lot of this already, and people who don't most likely don't want to know - but I don't think it's ever a bad time for a reminder to be mindful about our behavior, the world we live in, and the way we treat other living things. The way that humans have treated cows over the past 200 years is reprehensible, heartbreaking, and difficult to face. It's hard for me to accept that some people just don't care about the feelings of animals (or honestly don't believe that they CAN feel things), and that treatment of animals in slaughterhouses is barbaric as a routine way of doing business. I've been a vegetarian since I was 13, but I can still make better choices about what I eat and where my food comes from. Everyone can. Facing the truth is the first step.

[Liz · Rating 3 out of 5]

I'd like to be able to give it 3.5. At points this book was excellent -- it wasn't focused on "don't eat meat," as I might have expected, but instead on how to make the American cow-raising industry more sustainable (i.e. - buy local, organic cows that are raised humanely; eat less meat/dairy; be aware that you've got cow in pretty much all the things you use or own). Parts of the book dragged on, and for some reason that's completely outside my understanding the last chapter, which illustrates the conditions under which factory dairy and beef cattle, exists (though those conditions could have easily been integrated earlier in the book, and in some cases were). There were points when I felt the book could have been much more incisive regarding the cattle industrial complex, and I think it lost something by missing those opportunities.

[Leah Boyer · Rating 5 out of 5]

Denis and Gail's meticulous research is laid out very clearly in this informative -- and entertaining -- book. They go into everything from when and how we started eating cows, to mad cow disease, to environmental impacts of the beef industry, to advances in sustainable agriculture. I would recommend this book for anyone interested in learning more about how these wonderful animals became such a large part our lives and diet and what it means for the future.

[Debra · Rating 4 out of 5]

The Hayes' offer a terrific argument against industrialized beef and dairy production highlighting numerous impacts including environmental, animal cruelty, and health implications for humans. Lots of science-based research quoted really a worthwhile read to better understand such a big part of our economy and lifestyle.

[Kait · Rating 3 out of 5]

I really fascinating look into the beef and dairy cattle industries particularly in the US and the UK. There is a comparison drawn between the two that is really interesting. Reading this is kind of the literary equivalent of watching Food Inc. or the like — expect to feel compelled to change your eating and grocery buying habits afterwards.

[Mark · Rating 3 out of 5]

Interesting in a general sense. I was interested in the historical aspects and the mechanics of our current systems and the ecological implications. I just skimmed over all the nutritional and health discussions because they don't really interest me that much.

[Hans Hoffmann · Rating 4 out of 5]

I did not start the year thinking I would read a book about the beef and dairy industry, but after hearing Dennis Hayes speak at Microsoft I decided to take the plunge. It was a fascinating read. There are 93 million cows in the US. What they eat ultimately effects our health and environment

[Janet Noonan · Rating 4 out of 5]

Not something I read cover to
Cover - due to
Familiarity with content. It covers a range of environmental concerns but also is useful for compassion and health information.

[Mike Cavaroc · Rating 4 out of 5]

Beats a dead horse into the ground a few times, but even knowing as much as I know about the cattle industry, I still found a lot of it very interesting and very well worth checking out.

[Kelly Jo · Rating 3 out of 5]

Fantastic book. It reads more like a textbook than a recreational read, but was incredibly informative. I particularly enjoyed the chapter "Don't be Cruel".

[Clint · Rating 5 out of 5]

I really enjoyed this very well researched book. Cows are so much more important and inpactful in the world than I realized. A strong argument for fewer people eating less meat and fewer cows.