Despite our everyday use of the phrase “Off to greener pastures”, the farm cows that inspired this expression don’t always get to do that. For many farm cows, their milk production is the only reason they’re kept alive.
Once they can’t produce milk anymore, it’s off to the slaughterhouse. It may be grim, but that’s the capitalistic world we live in.
Meet Helen. She’s a blind cow who’s 19-years-old.
Helen was born blind. This was no accident or gradual loss of vision. But she was fine everywhere else.
And the farmer grew fond of Helen. She wasn’t just a milk machine or a future steak to him. She became a beloved pet.
But he knew someone else could take better care of her. So after a couple years of giving Helen the best of his care, he passed that responsibility onto someone else.
That’s how Helen got adopted by the folks at Uncle Neil’s Home, a farm sanctuary.
There, Helen received a warm welcome with promise of a great home and a great life. These were the greener pastures that people always talk about.
And Helen is a very loving cow. She makes no secret of that.
Helen loves to randomly walk up to people and snuggle them, and it’s superbly adorable given her size.
Before she was taken in, Helen spent most of her life as a diary cow for 19 years with other cows.
She hadn’t really made friends and almost never went out.
But that farmer was kind enough to give her special attention and the promise of a new home, and we wouldn’t have had it any other way.
Still, it wouldn’t be easy for her to adjust to her new life.
She needed a helping hand, and the people at the sanctuary would deliver.
A camera was installed near Helen’s pen so they could always keep an eye for her. She also received a solar-powered water trough that would provide a constant sound of trickling water to her.
Along one of the walls of her enclosure, they installed a brush that she could rub up against whenever she pleased.
This was an instant hit with the cow, and she uses that wall-brush constantly now.
She’d only been with Uncle Neil’s Home for 5 months at this point, but the people there say it was the best 5 months of their life.
If there was any uncertainty about how Helen felt, those uncertainties disappeared when Helen did something one day.
One day, Helen walked up to her mom’s partner who was cleaning the pasture and began showering him with affection.
The adorable cow kept rubbing and brushing her head on him, like a cat trying to snuggle.
That really sold it. It’s safe to say Helen likes them now.
Helen is the happiest she’s ever been living on Uncle Neil’s Home. Her caretakers/parents treat her like an actual child, and she has everything she needs.
She can sit, graze, nap, and play to her heart’s content.
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