Every year, thousands of visitors come to Israel who have little interest in Moses, David or Jesus. They are dairy farmers, and they come from around the world to learn for themselves how Israel’s dairy cows produce almost twice as much milk as theirs do back home.
And what they discover is that Israel’s cows are content. More than content, they are happy.
Google “Israel’s Happy Cows” and you’ll learn all about it. One of the entries will tell you about the professor who made the discovery for herself. Another will explain how Israeli cows are “taking over the world”.
One of the secrets to the local bovines’ bliss lies in the personal care they all receive. Every milk cow in Israel has its own computer entry on a national database, where the well-being and productivity of the animal is logged. Twice a day, at milking time, the cow is monitored to tell whether it is eating well and is healthy, or perhaps is coming down sick; pregnant perhaps, or ready to become so, etc.
This personal care is supplemented by the living conditions on the Israeli dairy farm (refet in Hebrew), where the cows’ quarters are kept clean, air-conditioned and, in some cases I believe, even have piped music.
A recent news article headlined, “From Today, Cows in Israel Also Have a Biometric ID Card” reported that “a new facial recognition and biometric system – like those used on people – is coming into use in various dairy farms in Israel, but unlike its purpose in humans, in cows it will be used to identify if the animal is in distress.”
New findings and data were presented last week at an annual cattle and sheep science conference held under the auspices of Israel’s Ministry of Agriculture.
A New Jerusalem Lion Cub
In other news from Noah’s Ark, or at least with a connection to the days of Samson and King David, the Jerusalem Biblical Zoo has announced the arrival of new a resident, a recently-born but as yet unnamed Asiatic lion cub.
One of a set of lion twins born on October 1 (its sibling was accidentally killed by the mother) the cub will be named when zoo keepers can safely get it away from dad and mom – Gir and Yasha – long enough for its sex to be determined.
Apparently undeterred by this provisional namelessness, the playful cub has an affectionate relationship with both parents, and can be seen gambolling with Gir and playing catch-me-if-you-can with Yasha’s tail.
Smaller and somewhat scrawnier-looking than their majestic African cousins, the Asiatic lion was once prolific in the Middle East and central Asia, but by the early 20th century had been hunted to the brink of extinction.
A Bible word-search for ‘lion’ returns more than 120 entries. Apart from the actual animals, like the lion killed by Samson, the carcass of which became a beehive, and the ones David slew to save his sheep, a lion is used to depict Israel as a nation (Numbers 24:9), and Jesus is called the “Lion of the Tribe of Judah” (Revelation 5:5).
Besides the Jerusalem zoo, Israel has at least two nature reserves called Hai Bar (one in the Arava, the other on Mount Carmel) where endangered and locally extinct animals mentioned in the Bible are bred for possible reintroduction to the land.
