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EARTH'S MOST VALUABLE ANIMAL

By Carroll Cox

Out in Yahoo Nation a remnant of Americans remain who appreciate the cow the way it deserves. We can look at a cowpie and see nourishing fertilizer for the earth rather than the contamination many eco-activists would have you believe it is. On arid western soil where moisture and organic matter are precious as diamonds, blades of spring grass will congregate greedily with microscopic organisms generated by a cow plop in the midst of otherwise barren sand.

Any gardener in the biologically-deficient soils of earth's arid regions knows the value of the cow's generous droppings.

But cowpies are merely the dessert in a tremendous and varied menu served up by earth's most valuable animal.

You read that right. No animal can equal the value of a cow. Bar none.

Let us just count the ways that the common, cloven-hoofed, cud-chewing domestic creature environmentalists love to bash is of service to humankind. Everything from tiger to toad has its passionate support group. It's about time someone stood up for the cow and inserted some common sense into the animal advocacy arena.

Begin with the steaks and hamburgers modern Americans consume by the ton but seldom associate with the living creatures they have been programmed to detest. Maybe you are a vegetarian and don't eat meat. But even if you are a member of that vocal minority you cannot escape the beneficence of the cow, however unintended.

Thanks to our friend the cow we enjoy butter, cheese, milk, yogurt, cottage cheese and ice cream. Most people even today are vaguely aware that dairy products have bovine origins. But so, too, do mayonnaise, marshmallows, gelatins and flavoring for baked goods.

Probably not one person in 100,000 has an inkling of the range of consumer goods in addition to food products that come from the cow corral. Combs, brushes, cosmetics, candles, piano keys, shoe polish, deodorants, floor wax, perfumes, shaving cream, crayons and detergents contain cow products.

Are you amazed yet? Well, that was only the beginning. Consider wallpaper, paintbrushes and glue. Cowhide glue is used for bookbinding as synthetic glue melts in intense heat and is insoluble. Cow parts are used in the manufacture of building insulation, fire extinguishing foam, camera film and developing materials, cellophane and plastic.

Every year Americans buy sporting goods made from the hides of 100,000 cows. That's in addition to the cowhides required to make our leather shoes, luggage and clothing.

Do you travel a lot? Well, the cow helps you by contributing to hydraulic brake fluid, airplane lubricants, runway foam, machinery oils, antifreeze, ball bearings, car polishes and waxes and textiles for car upholstery.

Few indeed are aware of the cow's contribution to medicine. Insulin for diabetes. Glucagon for hypoglycemia. Pancreatin to aid digestion. Plasma for hemophilia. Thrombin, a blood coagulant. Bone meal for calcium. ACTH for arthritis and allergies, and many, many more.

We call ourselves a humane society that loves animals, yet we in the U.S. more and more condemn our cows to factory farms packed like tuna in a can to live out their short, unnatural lives creating problem waste that should be feeding our increasingly sterile plains and pastures.

That's no way to treat earth's most valuable animal.

And that's the gospel from Yahoo Nation.

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