Of Cattle and Men by Ana Paula Maia

Of Cattle and Men is situated in Milo’s slaughterhouse in Brazil. There are burger plants and several other slaughterhouses around the area and a river which feeds on the blood of the dead animals. The main character Edgar Wilson is the stub operator but he doesn’t just kill the cows he also understands them and tries his best not to make them suffer. The story mainly follows him but we get to know a few more haunted souls beside him. Bronco Gil for example the indigenous bodyguard of the farm who is always on the hunt for jaguars or beasts let it be an animal or human. Not that there is a difference. Milo, who owns the slaughterhouse, mostly works long hours in his office calculating numbers painstakingly. A strict but righteous boss who is equally respected among his employees. As the book goes on, basically reading itself which was one of my favourite things, we get to know the daily lives of the men who are working alongside the cattle who are just as similarly living by their own pattern. Until one day Edgar Wilson notices that a few herd cows are not facing north while grazing. 

Edgar knows this means something is wrong. And not long after he sees Bronco and the others as one of the cows starts to seemingly without any logical reason throw itself to the side of the barn until death. Not long after another 22 of them just march off a cliff. What’s happening to these animals? Has someone poisoned them? Are they hunted or do they suddenly realize they are going to die anyway so might as well be their own decision? 

I grew up with my grandparents living beside us. From the moment I could walk I was outside with all the farm animals my grandparents had. Chickens, ducks, geese, rabbits, pigs, and even pigeons. I spent all my time with them. I knew them just the same way they knew me. This might sound weird but after a while, there was not much difference between them and me. Especially when I was still a child and more sensitive to a language which wasn’t based on words. And I saw my grandmother killing the chickens when we needed the meat and I didn’t like it because I felt bad for them, for my chickens but it didn’t seem unnatural either. I even saw one who put her head on my grandmother’s shoulders and closed her eyes for a second just like she knew and she was ready to go. Or maybe my innocent child mind wanted to see it this way.

Of Cattle and Men just read the same way as my days back then when the farm animals. Simple but full of meaning.