Marché à St Geniez

Oil on board 50 x 50cm

On a visit to the southwest of France, I ran into some kind of celebration of local livestock, with a herd of cows herded behind crowd-control barriers in the center of the village. Many of the cows were festooned with ridiculous garlands. It broke my heart to see these beautiful, big-eyed cows so far from a natural setting. Perhaps the farmers treated them relatively well, as they looked healthy; certainly the breeders were proud of their beasts. But that doesn’t negate their inevitable fate.

Jersey cows are bred for their high-fat milk, so the fate of this mother & baby was set: the child would certainly be slaughtered for veal if it be male. Females are kept pregnant, and when their offspring attains a certain age, it is ripped from her care to grow up to the same fate if the baby is female. I have heard the plaintive cries of mother and baby at this separation and it is painful to listen to.