Tuesday, 23 August 2022

Sep/Oct 22 issue of Resurgence & Ecologist magazine

I’ve written a feature for the latest edition of Resurgence & Ecologist magazine (Sep/Oct 22) called Portrait of a Cow.

I was really moved, earlier this year, watching Andrea Arnold’s documentary Cow, which followed a dairy cow called Luma on a farm in Kent, over the course of a few years. There was no commentary or explantation for the scenes presented, it was simply a filmic invitation to consider the life of this mammal. I couldn’t stop thinking about it. I had so many questions – was Luma’s life typical of a British dairy cow? How much did she get to be outside? How did she feel about being separated from her calfs at birth, year after year, so that humans could take her milk?

I set about finding out and spoke to lots of fascinating people in the process – including farmer George, from Park Farm in Kent, where Luma lived.