What do you think?
Rate this book
The Cow with Ear Tag #1389
To translate the journey from a living cow to a glass of milk into tangible terms, Kathryn Gillespie set out to follow the moments in the life cycles of individual animals—animals like the cow with ear tag #1389. She explores how the seemingly benign practice of raising animals for milk is just one link in a chain that affects livestock across the agricultural spectrum. Gillespie takes readers to farms, auction yards, slaughterhouses, and even rendering plants to show how living cows become food. The result is an empathetic look at cows and our relationship with them, one that makes both their lives and their suffering real.
272 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 2018
10 people are currently reading
240 people want to read
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 16 of 16 reviews
January 19, 2019
We want to believe that cows live happy lives. From our childhoods of Old MacDonald and his farm, field trips and cartoons and stuffed animals, we are raised to believe they are happy. The dairy industry tells us they are happy. The advertisements we see on TV reinforce the illusion. But it is only an illusion and more of us are awakening to the cruel reality of the world we have created for them. A world in which animals — cows, chickens, goats, sheep, and so many other species — are viewed and treated as little more than their component parts.
Why should a cow not receive the same degree of love and protection as the cat or dog we share our homes with?
This is a question in desperate need of an obvious answer. So I’m always happy to see more authors and publishers posing this question. Like this book by Kathryn Gillespie, published by the University of Chicago Press.
In The Cow with Ear Tag #1389 Gillespie takes us on a necessarily uncomfortable journey through America’s dairy industry. The core illusion built around the dairy industry is that cows somehow want to share their milk with us. And that they want to be milked. But the truth is, the milk is there for a very specific reason, one that is stolen from them every year. Each year, dairy cows are artificially inseminated and separated from their newborn calves within minutes after birth. A mother cow may bellow for weeks, calling out to a child that has been taken from her. Of course we can imagine the terror of this because we can imagine ourselves losing a loved one. And yet this is how milk is made. Cows don’t want to give their milk away. They create it for calves who are most often sent straight into veal crates, which the industry now euphemistically refers to as “hutches.” And the fact that the dairy industry is very much intertwined with the veal industry has long been the industry’s dirty little secret.
Gillespie is not the first person to analyze animal agriculture, but she provides an honest and human element to the journey that I found deeply moving. Her candor throughout her visits to farms and auction houses had me squirming in my seat as she watched those poor animals being pushed and prodded along. And it was not surprising but sad that nearly every dairy farm she approached for her research turned her away under the sad excuse of “biosecurity.” This is an industry that thrives on ignorance. On illusion.
But this book is not all pain and misery. There are inspiring moments amidst the stories of those who have founded animal sanctuaries, like Animal Place and Pigs Peace. Gillespie takes us along with her, where we can get a sense for what it’s like to care for an animal after it has suffered so much. As the founder of Pigs Peace noted, she had difficultly finding vets who understood how to care for aging pigs because in our world pigs aren’t allows to age. They all die young, as do cows and chickens. Those few chickens who do make it to sanctuaries have great difficulty simply standing upright because they were bred to get large quickly, so large that they can barely support their bodies.
Gillespie notes that there are 9.3 million dairy cows in the US that are used for their milk until they are “spent” after about three years and then sent to slaughter, to the tune of roughly 3 million cows per year. As Carol Adams writes in The Sexual Politics of Meat, “Female animals are doubly exploited: both when they are alive and then when they are dead.”
This is world I was raised into. A world in which I assumed we needed meat to survive, that violence to animals was necessary. I know now it is not necessary. That humans don’t need meat to survive and that we have never needed milk from a cow or a goat.
Gillespie is not out to belittle those who work in the industry — she is empathetic to the worlds they live in as well, and the emotional toll this work ultimately exacts on them. They are part of a system, a system that supplies a demand based on illusion, based on a tradition that so many of us except without question. Gillespie travels to a trade conference and notes how intertwined the dairy industry is with notions of family and patriotism and what it means to be an American. And it is these ideas that make it so difficult for people to give up milk and cheese and ice cream (even though they don’t have to give up any of it — vegan alternatives are far tastier and healthier).
This book is a valuable addition to a growing canon of literature that challenges our understanding of “normal” and that will, hopefully, as more people become aware of the horror, lead to positive changes for animals. It’s simple enough to start, really. You just stop eating meat and go from there. The Cow with Ear Tag 1389 is doing its part to opens hearts and minds.
NOTE: This review first posted on EcoLit Books: www.ecolitbooks.com.
Why should a cow not receive the same degree of love and protection as the cat or dog we share our homes with?
This is a question in desperate need of an obvious answer. So I’m always happy to see more authors and publishers posing this question. Like this book by Kathryn Gillespie, published by the University of Chicago Press.
In The Cow with Ear Tag #1389 Gillespie takes us on a necessarily uncomfortable journey through America’s dairy industry. The core illusion built around the dairy industry is that cows somehow want to share their milk with us. And that they want to be milked. But the truth is, the milk is there for a very specific reason, one that is stolen from them every year. Each year, dairy cows are artificially inseminated and separated from their newborn calves within minutes after birth. A mother cow may bellow for weeks, calling out to a child that has been taken from her. Of course we can imagine the terror of this because we can imagine ourselves losing a loved one. And yet this is how milk is made. Cows don’t want to give their milk away. They create it for calves who are most often sent straight into veal crates, which the industry now euphemistically refers to as “hutches.” And the fact that the dairy industry is very much intertwined with the veal industry has long been the industry’s dirty little secret.
Gillespie is not the first person to analyze animal agriculture, but she provides an honest and human element to the journey that I found deeply moving. Her candor throughout her visits to farms and auction houses had me squirming in my seat as she watched those poor animals being pushed and prodded along. And it was not surprising but sad that nearly every dairy farm she approached for her research turned her away under the sad excuse of “biosecurity.” This is an industry that thrives on ignorance. On illusion.
But this book is not all pain and misery. There are inspiring moments amidst the stories of those who have founded animal sanctuaries, like Animal Place and Pigs Peace. Gillespie takes us along with her, where we can get a sense for what it’s like to care for an animal after it has suffered so much. As the founder of Pigs Peace noted, she had difficultly finding vets who understood how to care for aging pigs because in our world pigs aren’t allows to age. They all die young, as do cows and chickens. Those few chickens who do make it to sanctuaries have great difficulty simply standing upright because they were bred to get large quickly, so large that they can barely support their bodies.
Gillespie notes that there are 9.3 million dairy cows in the US that are used for their milk until they are “spent” after about three years and then sent to slaughter, to the tune of roughly 3 million cows per year. As Carol Adams writes in The Sexual Politics of Meat, “Female animals are doubly exploited: both when they are alive and then when they are dead.”
This is world I was raised into. A world in which I assumed we needed meat to survive, that violence to animals was necessary. I know now it is not necessary. That humans don’t need meat to survive and that we have never needed milk from a cow or a goat.
Gillespie is not out to belittle those who work in the industry — she is empathetic to the worlds they live in as well, and the emotional toll this work ultimately exacts on them. They are part of a system, a system that supplies a demand based on illusion, based on a tradition that so many of us except without question. Gillespie travels to a trade conference and notes how intertwined the dairy industry is with notions of family and patriotism and what it means to be an American. And it is these ideas that make it so difficult for people to give up milk and cheese and ice cream (even though they don’t have to give up any of it — vegan alternatives are far tastier and healthier).
This book is a valuable addition to a growing canon of literature that challenges our understanding of “normal” and that will, hopefully, as more people become aware of the horror, lead to positive changes for animals. It’s simple enough to start, really. You just stop eating meat and go from there. The Cow with Ear Tag 1389 is doing its part to opens hearts and minds.
NOTE: This review first posted on EcoLit Books: www.ecolitbooks.com.
September 26, 2020
Technically this was a DNF. I stopped for self preservation. I purposely don't read or watch things like this anymore because reliving traumatic things I've already experienced and that I already know about doesn't serve me in any way. I'm giving it 5 stars anyway because the half that I did push through is written in the way I'd want this book to be written. For the people who need to know this information, this approach is one of ethics and realistic portrayals of who these animals are while also placing them into the larger context of capitalism, patriarchy, ableism, and other core oppressions that are intimately bolstered by and intertwined with the treatment of animals as things.
The problem is that I leave feeling sad and pessimistic. The people who need to read this won't. Not just your average "meat and potatoes" American, but also the vegetarians who think dairy is ethical and localvores who think small farms aren't absolutely heinously cruel. If they do read it, most won't be willing to believe or internalize it. The people doing the harm don't care or detach themselves so that they don't have to care. And those of us who hurt in the deep pits of our souls and feel the despair of what animal exploitation industry is are left with the burden of experiencing and promoting this information over and over, begging people to care, watching even those of the far left demean other animals so they don't have to point the finger at themselves like they easily do at the rich and others.
Once the cow the book is named after was introduced, I could not share in this researcher's trauma anymore. I have enough of my own. I'm not strong enough. I don't know what that says about me when my discomfort pales in comparison to #1389. There's something about how farmed animals are treated, the scope and intensity of cruelty and callousness they endure, and the hoops even the best of people otherwise jump through to ignore, justify, and participate in it that leaves me feeling indescribably defeated.
The problem is that I leave feeling sad and pessimistic. The people who need to read this won't. Not just your average "meat and potatoes" American, but also the vegetarians who think dairy is ethical and localvores who think small farms aren't absolutely heinously cruel. If they do read it, most won't be willing to believe or internalize it. The people doing the harm don't care or detach themselves so that they don't have to care. And those of us who hurt in the deep pits of our souls and feel the despair of what animal exploitation industry is are left with the burden of experiencing and promoting this information over and over, begging people to care, watching even those of the far left demean other animals so they don't have to point the finger at themselves like they easily do at the rich and others.
Once the cow the book is named after was introduced, I could not share in this researcher's trauma anymore. I have enough of my own. I'm not strong enough. I don't know what that says about me when my discomfort pales in comparison to #1389. There's something about how farmed animals are treated, the scope and intensity of cruelty and callousness they endure, and the hoops even the best of people otherwise jump through to ignore, justify, and participate in it that leaves me feeling indescribably defeated.
March 15, 2022
One of my best non-fiction reads in a long time and a reminder than academic writing can be highly impactful.
February 18, 2024
This book helped me process what I was seeing and experiencing at the PSU dairy barns, and I’m really thankful for that. Kathryn doesn’t touch on dairy grazing at all, though, and I think this makes her argument weaker. After reading her book, I was left with the nagging question: does Gay, a farmer I know who is sustainability focused, grazes all of her cows, and feels deeply uncomfortable with industrial dairy, still perpetuate violence against her animals? On the last page, Kathryn asks, “How might care be reconceptualized and reevaluated in careful and ethically attuned ways?” Is Gay doing this?
Also Kathryn’s writing is really good, especially for academic writing!
Also Kathryn’s writing is really good, especially for academic writing!
November 15, 2022
Even though I already know majority of the info in here, it still was impactful. The personal experiences of the auctions and tour of a farm, showed the tough realities and conversations that arise in such places. I teared up a few times.
The “to the animals and their ghosts who inhabit these pages” part of the acknowledgments made me have a full cry. Hurts my heart so much.
The “to the animals and their ghosts who inhabit these pages” part of the acknowledgments made me have a full cry. Hurts my heart so much.
September 20, 2020
"Simultaneously engaging, provocative, rigorous, and heartfelt, The Cow with Ear Tag #1389 demystifies the doublethink that dazes decent people into complicity with callous cruelty. Let Katie Gillespie be your tour guide to the dairy farm, state fair, and petting zoo, and you might find yourself exploring the back roads of your own mind"
I speed-read this book in PDF pre-publication to come up with that blurb, which I stand by as I re-read it through more closely to prepare for moderating a book club discussion with the author
I speed-read this book in PDF pre-publication to come up with that blurb, which I stand by as I re-read it through more closely to prepare for moderating a book club discussion with the author
September 22, 2019
The author of this book on dairy farming is a geographer by professional discipline and clearly committed to animal liberation, though she mostly shows you that through the questions she asks rather than telling you in so many words. When she started research for this book she wanted to go undercover at a dairy farm. It struck me as naive to think her university's Institutional Review Board would let her do that, and it struck the Institutional Review Board the same way, but apparently academics at other universities have managed it before. She did find one smaller farm that would allow her to visit openly, which may be worth reading about but isn't the high point of the book. I think the most effective chapters were two describing her observations of cattle auctions and one about visits to sanctuaries. Auctions are publicly accessible and yet they put the commodification of animals on display in as unsanitized a way as you can imagine. And the point comes through all the more strongly in contrast with the sanctuaries, where she brings you face to face with what thinking outside the speciesist box looks like in day-to-day practice for people with rescuees under their care. I don't yet have a good sense of how many books of this type there are, but I expect this will be one of my go-to recommendations for academics with a social science background.
March 8, 2019
A necessarily gruesome look at how the dairy industry functions and the animal lives used up by the process. I'd like to say I'm never going to consume dairy again after reading this book, but I'm honest with myself and know that's just not true. (For a variety of reasons too long to address here.) I will however never look at a spoonful of yogurt or cube of cheese in the same way. I set off into this book to educate myself in how what I consume comes to me. Hiding from the reality of our food is something that has always troubled me about our modern society.
In general this book was informative and fare. There were moments (particularly towards the end) where it started to feel just a bit much...the ideas a bit too over the top for me. I felt the same about some of the language throughout. The straightforward telling of what actually was happening to the animals was more powerful to me than abstract ideas and agendas.
In general this book was informative and fare. There were moments (particularly towards the end) where it started to feel just a bit much...the ideas a bit too over the top for me. I felt the same about some of the language throughout. The straightforward telling of what actually was happening to the animals was more powerful to me than abstract ideas and agendas.
May 3, 2021
Eye opening and distressing. I never would have thought the dairy industry has so much violence against animals involved. People who worry about animal abuse tend to only think about animals we keep as pets, like dogs, cats, and horses. They turn a blind eye to abuse of animals that are part of food production (yet in SE Asia, dogs might be considered food animals!). “Ag-gag” laws in many states criminalize the documentation of agricultural facility practices so that even whistleblowers can’t act. Another major obstacle are CFEs (“Customary Farming Exemptions”) that grant the animal agriculture industry exemptions from animal cruelty laws. As long as a form of inhumane treatment is deemed “customary” by the industry itself, a company can’t be prosecuted, so that judges and juries have no say. Customary practices include cutting off chickens’ beaks with a hot blade and allowing a certain number of animals to be conscious through the slaughter process, such that live cows have been disemboweled or skinned alive for their hides. The laws also allow the slaughter and rendering industries to hide the dangerous and terrible working conditions for the human laborers, who tend to be people of color, formerly incarcerated people, and undocumented immigrants.
Then, of course, there are ecological ramifications of the animal industry: the problems of manure lagoons leaking into local waterways; excess nitrogen production (the manure produced by 200 dairy cows creates as much nitrogen as the sewage from 5,000-10,000 humans); and demand on water in areas that are already devastate by drought (we want people to take shorter showers and restaurants to only serve water to people who order it while it takes a thousand gallons of water for every gallon of milk produced. And California is the largest dairy state in the nation!)
On the flip side, I was delighted to learn about the existence of sanctuaries that are dedicated to animal protection and rehabilitation and legislative and corporate reform. One such refuge was founded by a couple who started it when they took in a sheep they found lying alive in a “dead pile.”
Our clean and brightly lit grocery stores with their neat packaging of meats and milk cartons with pictures of happy cows completely separate us from the reality of what goes on behind the scenes.
Then, of course, there are ecological ramifications of the animal industry: the problems of manure lagoons leaking into local waterways; excess nitrogen production (the manure produced by 200 dairy cows creates as much nitrogen as the sewage from 5,000-10,000 humans); and demand on water in areas that are already devastate by drought (we want people to take shorter showers and restaurants to only serve water to people who order it while it takes a thousand gallons of water for every gallon of milk produced. And California is the largest dairy state in the nation!)
On the flip side, I was delighted to learn about the existence of sanctuaries that are dedicated to animal protection and rehabilitation and legislative and corporate reform. One such refuge was founded by a couple who started it when they took in a sheep they found lying alive in a “dead pile.”
Our clean and brightly lit grocery stores with their neat packaging of meats and milk cartons with pictures of happy cows completely separate us from the reality of what goes on behind the scenes.
January 25, 2023
read this in one go, took about 4 hours. I went through, highlighting and underlining and circling points i wanted to come back to. she raises so many important points are violence and the usage of cows for meat and dairy as well as how this violence is perpetrated by erasing the violence. or making it so mundane and normalized. that in itself is a form of violence.
the title chapter made me cry - reading the auctioning of that cow with ear tag 1389 was really impactful; it detailed the impacts of violence that the cow had faced earlier. this book is very though-provoking. kudos to the author for doing this research and writing this book.
the title chapter made me cry - reading the auctioning of that cow with ear tag 1389 was really impactful; it detailed the impacts of violence that the cow had faced earlier. this book is very though-provoking. kudos to the author for doing this research and writing this book.
May 11, 2023
super great read!! i’ve been consistently vegetarian for 8 years, and on and off vegan throughout, but couldn’t find the right words to articulate ‘why’ to people who didn’t understand my choice; this book helped me find those words. as a relatively new west coast resident, i’m always looking for books to educate myself on my new home. the cow with ear tag #1389 did just that by focusing on california and washington’s animal agriculture industries. though i read this book for a class, i would’ve picked this book off the shelves either way!
December 25, 2025
The Cow with Ear Tag #1389 by Kathryn Gillespie is a powerful and deeply unsettling work of nonfiction that asks readers to truly see the animals behind everyday consumption. Through careful research and compassionate storytelling, Gillespie traces the life of individual cows to expose the hidden systems of industrial agriculture. The book is thoughtful, rigorous, and emotionally resonant, transforming abstract practices into lived realities. Clear eyed and humane, this is an essential read for anyone interested in ethics, animals, and the true cost of food
January 14, 2025
This book should be a mandatory part of the high school curriculum. It’s so true that people really don’t think twice about where their food comes from or the violence behind its production. We treat our dogs/pets like royalty but a cow, who is just as social and playful and worthy of love, is just a commodity. So very, very sad.
May 27, 2025
Trying to see past what I found to be a self-righteous tone so that I could appreciate what this book does do really well: challenge normalized violence and ask how the other is constructed. I enjoyed her discussion of buddy system anthropology, but other frusturations (e.g., about the IRB, not gaining access to fieldsites) fell flat. I feel like Gillespie walked so Blanchette could run.
October 31, 2023
This was an interesting book but I felt that parts of it were too much like reading an academic article instead of being written for an audience. I'm glad I persevered through those parts but they dragged.
September 2, 2021
I wish everyone could read this book—the world would be a more compassionate place for it. Gillespie’s work is deeply empathetic, personal, and eye-opening. The stories she shares will stay with me for a long time.
Displaying 1 - 16 of 16 reviews