Mud

We in this area have been in a persistent drought for many years now and the outlook for breaking it is <a href="http://www.billingsgazette.com//index.php?id=1&display=rednews/2005/02/25/build/state/80-drought-forecast.inc" target="_new">grim</a>. Now California has been having the opposite problem lately with storm after storm flooding them out. <br />n<br />n<img width='110' height='73' border='0' hspace='5' align='left' src='http://www.sarpysam.com/sarpysam/uploads/mudcow.serendipityThumb.JPG' alt='' />I run across a story about the plight of the dairy cow in the recent rains in California and it could just make me cry. I don't know how many of you have seen the California cheese commercials that feature dairy cows grazing in lush green pastures and saying how happy they are but I've always had a problem with these commercials since dairy cows are run in a feedlot setting in todays high output environment and not out on grass like the commercials dictate. <a href="http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/C/CALIFORNIA_STORM_DAIRIES?SITE=APWEB&SECTION=HOME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&reload=true" target="_new">This story</a> tells you what its like in such a feedlot environment when the rains come endlessly like in California like they have recently.<br />n<br />n<blockquote>Cows produce less milk when they have to expend so much energy slogging through water. Also, cows resist lying down in standing water and will stand for days in the soggy muck until they collapse – and sometimes die – from exhaustion.</blockquote><br />n<br />nI am not saying I know how to fix the situation but it just makes me cringe seeing the cows standing in such muck and mud struggling in it. I just want to save them somehow.<br />n<br />nThere is a whole <a href="http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/galleries/195-1.html?SITE=APWEB&SECTION=HOME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT" target="_new">picture galley</a> of items dealing with the recent storms in California and the first 6 are of dairy cows fighting the mud. Not a pretty sight if you ask me and not very good advertising for the California dairy industry.<br />n<br />n<b>Say I'm weary, say I'm sad,<br />nSay that health and wealth have missed me,<br />nSay I'm growing old<br />n<br />nLeigh Hunt</b>