I’m taking you to a cattle ranch in Colorado today

I had quite a few cow sightings today, including on dairy products, in books and in one video, but I’d like to share a special encounter with you instead.

A cattle rancher visited my blog today and took the opportunity to say hi. She shared the story of her angus cattle ranch located at over 6000 feet in the mountains of Colorado, where cows and bulls get to graze on green pastures. I can’t read the minds of cows but I would say this one looks pretty happy. Of course, it has no clue what its ultimate purpose really is, but let’s not spoil things for the poor cow.

Photo courtesy of 101 Livestock Company

There are plenty more cows to see on the 101 Livestock Company cattle ranch’s website if you’d like to learn more. I want to thank Francine for stopping by and showing me that spending every day around cows can be so enjoyable, watching new calves being born and mothers taking care of each other’s babies. I’m glad to hear that cows make such great moms, and I hope there are many more cattle ranchers out there like you.

I found cows in a book, and it’s not a children’s book

A few days ago I mentioned that I started reading Fast Food Nation by Eric Schlosser, a fascinating book on “the dark side of the all-American meal”.

Fast Food Nation book by Eric Schlosser

I’m half way through the book and I’ve learned more about the fast food business than I ever imagined. This includes the history of Carl Jr’s, McDonald’s, Subway, and other successful fast food restaurants. I had no idea Ray Kroc was such a driven, but arrogant businessman, who liked to call his critics “sons of bitches”… I also learned the dirt behind fast food employment and the companies’ blatant lack of respect for labor laws and employee rights. I’ve also found out the reasons why French fries taste so good and their increasing production drives many potato farmers out of business every year.

Each chapter of the book starts with a black and white photo illustrating the theme of the chapter. This afternoon I got to read the section called “On the Range”, and this is the photo used for it:

Cow cattle photo in Fast Food Nation book

Just like potato farmers, many ranchers go bankrupt every year, not being able to keep up with the fixed low price of hamburger meat.

One more interesting fact I learned so far is that there is little difference between natural and artificial flavoring. Both are made of the same chemicals (molecules), only differing by the process used to obtain them. One scientist calls natural flavoring the “outdated technology”, explaining its higher price. Both flavorings are even manufactured inside the same plants – how ironic is that? The chapter on flavoring made me relax about artificial flavors, especially when I realize how wrong everything else is with fast food…

More goofy-looking cows selling cheese

After yesterday’s post on flying cows and red cows, my cow sightings for today will look like they popped out right out of the ordinary. Hey, it’s not every day I run into cows with hair as long as mine, so it’s hard to top that off.

I ran into cows twice today while at my local Food4Less grocery store. The first one was on the wall above the meat department.

Cow and pig together at Food4Less

This is another clear example that cows and pigs indeed are best friends and like to hang out together, even when they’re about to be chosen as dinner meat. Maybe it’s their way to show each other support when times are tough.

My other cow sighting was across the aisle, in the cheese department. These three happy, goofy-looking cows are selling yummy string cheese:

Cows on cheese stick package for Kroger

Even the package, with its cow hide pattern, sends you subliminal vibes to grab it off the shelf.

The last string cheese package I ran into at Vons also featured funny-looking cows doing cartwheels in a field. Apparently string cheese makes you do amazing things. I’ve seen the results on my kids and I’m quite impressed. It makes them hop like rabbits all over the place – that’s strong stuff. Maybe I should try it for myself, so I can keep up with them!

What do cows look like in the Friskies cat food commercial Adventureland?

While catching up on a few TV episodes on my computer today, I was lucky enough to view this Friskies commercial for cat food, appropriately titled “Adventureland”.

The cows show up at 00:20 seconds, until 00:30 seconds. Here’s a screen shot of the cows’ first appearance:

Cows in Friskies cat food commercial - Adventureland

Now, these cows almost look normal, except maybe for the Justin Bieber haircut…

Cow with Justin Bieber haircut in Friskies commercial

The show doesn’t stop here. After happy cows grazing in the fields, you get to see flying cows!

Flying cows in the Friskies cat food commercial - Adventureland

Between the cows, the turkeys, and the fish, this adventurous cat gets very hungry and can’t wait to be back in the kitchen to tastes his Friskies cat food.

I couldn’t help but watch the next Friskies commercial on the list. Boy, did I pay for that…

Did you see the red cow at 0:08 seconds?

Red cow in Friskies cat commercial - Blender Grill

Alright, Mr. Friskies, spill the beans! Do you put “special” catnip in your cat food to make cats hallucinate? If so, I’ll have what he’s having.

A real cow on Jamie Oliver’s Food Revolution show

Last week one of my daily cows appeared in a preview for the new season of the ABC show “Food Revolution” with Jamie Oliver. The episode aired live a few days ago and I got a chance to watch it today. I was curious to find out why Oliver would have a cow on his show and I find out he gave this cow got its 15 minutes of fame, in a special way. 

Daily cow on Jamie Oliver’s Food Revolution ABC show

Jamie Oliver brought this cow as a prop to show his audience how much each cut of meat costs. Look at him pricing out a piece of the poor cow.

Pricing of beef meat on a cow during Jamie Olivers Food Revolution ABC show

Jamie Oliver went on to explain that the U.S. FDA allows the beef industry and therefore public schools to use something called “pink slime” as burger meat. I won’t go into the details of how you make pink slime but Oliver’s demonstration is worth watching if you want to become an educated meat shopper and meat eater. People in the audience looked nauseous at times and I did too. The whole process and live demo is, let’s just say very, very gross… I suggest you watch this Jamie Oliver video (about 12 minutes into the show).

What’s interesting about this specific episode is that Oliver failed to collaborate with the Los Angeles school lunch program and help create healthier lunches. Even with his own celebrity clout and that of co-producer Ryan Seacrest, who happens to hold the #1 morning radio show in L.A., Oliver couldn’t get past one single person – the L.A. school superintendent. This man, who shows more concern for his own paycheck and status than any of the Los Angeles kids, refused to give Oliver access to the school kitchens. I really hope many L.A. parents watched this show and will decide to put pressure on this pompous bureaucrat to allow Jamie Oliver to bring the Food Revolution to their school cafeterias.

I encourage you to view Jamie Oliver’s Food Revolution about the L.A. school lunch system. The cow first appears 10:40 minutes into the show (second segment).