The Calf Whisperer

August 10, 2025

The boss had the girls bring the calves to the indoor arena.  Hot as it was outside, the arena felt cool by comparison.

Grace moved the calves around.  The boss watched them move.  Skye watched them move.  Tex appeared to be sleeping, but he was also keeping an eye on everything.  

"You can leave them in here for now" the boss said.  "I'll be back down in a bit."  

Skye was quiet, fixated.  

In the next moment, Skye was in action, throwing a leg over Tex and slipping to the sandy ground.

"Whoa"  Grace directed her voice at Skye.  "Everyone's all stirred up. Whatever you're doing just hold on a minute.  Let me move some of these guys."

Twelve was a lot of bull calves in one arena with a person on the ground.  Grace and Hot Cocoa plucked off the really active ones, and moved them to the east side of the arena.

Skye stood quietly.  Tex watched. Grace kept sorting.

"We haven't spent a lot of time working with these guys on the ground" Grace said in an even voice.  "They aren't going to know what you want from them."

"I know" Skye responded.  The remaining calves were very curious.  Cautious.  Skye watched them, spoke softly to them now and then, kept her body movements slow and low.  The calves inched their way closer.  Sniffed.  Rolled wary eyes, a few of the brave gave her a cautious nuzzle.

Back at home, Grace had questions.

"So" Grace began, "Mind if I ask when you became a calf whisperer?"

Skye laughed.  "I read this thing.  It made me curious.  I just wanted to...like..get on their level and look into their eyes."

"Okay..."

"You know I'm always telling the boss we need to get rid of the cattle and get buffalo instead..."

"You should have told her that before she got all wound up in breeding the Criollo mixes."

"I know.  Now I know.  I didn't know then though.  Anyway I think she's getting ready to part with the bull calves.  And once we let them go...we have no control over their fate going forward.  So..."

Skye found the article.  "Here, I'll read it to you.  This got left behind when the Outward Bound Adventures group was here. "  The article was longer than she remembered.  

"Well, let me just summarize it for you...there was a pig farmer and one day one of the pigs he was talking to slaughter wasn't squealing.  It just looked at him.  Like why.  Why.  They made eye contact...the pig just quietly staring at him...at 3 a.m. the next morning he went to the slaughterhouse and tried to get that pig back, but it was too late.   The experience completely changed his life.

"Okay.  I get it"  Grace said.  "Next time you decide to step out into a herd of unhandled animals just give me a minute or two of warning."

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This is the excerpt that Skye refers to:

A pig farmer turned vegetarian

Compared to other like-minded people Luo Hong-xian's path to becoming a vegetarian was more dramatic.

Lou used to be a third generation pig farmer, raising several hundred pigs on a farm in Linkou, New Taipei City, North Taiwan. In his eyes, a pig was more a source of income than a living creature - that is, until an incident in 2008 brought a sudden reversal to this thinking and career path.

One day that year, Luo was sending some pigs to a slaughterhouse as usual, but one of the pigs to be sent away, instead of squealing loudly, lie the other pigs, remained silent.  It looked at Luo quietly, as if asking him "Why are you so cruel?" Luo was stunned as their eyes locked.  In that moment, it was as if the compassion that had lain dormant in his heart was suddenly awakened.  He couldn't sleep that night, and at three a.m. he jumped out of bed and rushed to the slaughterhouse to save that pig.  Sadly, he was too late: the pig had already been killed and   butchered by the time he arrived.  This incident prompted him to vow never to eat meat again, and to never sell the rest of his pigs to be slaughtered for food.

Side bar: According to the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations, more than 77 billion livestock animals around the world were killed for meat production in 2018.  That number translates tot he slaughter of 210 million animals per day, 2,443 animals per second. Those statistics do not include marine life.