Once upon a time there was a girl named Liv, which means life, at least in the Scandinavian area, who went for a walk with her dog Nanna. She was a mixture of different herding dogs, roll brown, with long fur, large and stocky, but as good-natured as a little lamb. During a vacation in Romania, Liv and her family picked up the bitch on the street as a baby. Since then she has been with them and always with Liv. That day Liv had been deep in thought and hadn’t paid attention to the way. Only when a miserable mooing reached her ear did she look up and try to orientate herself. They were standing on a path in the middle of fields. They had left the place far behind. But where did the sounds come from, which were clearly identifiable as such, that cows made. Little cows. Liv finally identified tiny huts, each of which was a small fenced area. It looked like mini houses with a balcony. And there was a calf in each of these huts.

Liv went to the first and the calf came very close, stuck out its pink tongue and tried to lick it off. Nanna also went to the grille and poked her nose curiously, whereupon the baby immediately sucked on it, so that Nanna quickly pulled her nose back again. “These are babies,” thought Liv, “lonely little babies. But where are the mothers to the babies?” It was not difficult to guess, because the penetrating mooing came from the stable behind. It was a mother screaming for her child. They separated only a few meters and yet they could not get together.
„Shove yourself out of there!“ She suddenly chimed in a deep voice. Uncertainly, Liv turned in the direction and saw a man in dungarees and rubber boots standing behind him.
„I’m going,“ said Liv sheepishly, „but I would like to ask you something else.“
„If you sneak up then,“ the grumpy man said.
„Why aren’t these babies with their mothers?“ Liv dared to inquire.
„Another one who has no idea about agriculture,“ said the obviously agronomist, „They are gone because otherwise they will drown their milk.“
„I understand,“ Liv said quietly, „That means the babies don’t get the milk because we drink it?“
„What else would they be good for? And that doesn’t bother them,“ the man snapped at them, „but sneak up on you or maybe you’re one of the animal rights activists?“
„No,“ said Liv and left, while Nanna trotted along unmoved. But they didn’t let go of the babies, who had to stand alone and deserted so that we could drink their milk. It had never occurred to her that she would take anything away from someone with her consumption. And today she had looked someone in the eye, deep sad brown eyes. That couldn’t be right. „When I drink milk, it has to be taken from a cow and the calf is alone and lonely in this box. If I do not drink milk and not everyone else, then the babies can stay with the mums. But why should a farmer still have cows when they don’t need the milk? Then they are slaughtered and there are no cows left. But would that make such a big difference? After all, they’re always locked up and you can’t see them.” So, Liv decided to stop drinking milk while she was walking on, and when she finally looked up, she found herself in front of a stable. She listened intently. Then she finally heard sounds, which in turn could be clearly assigned. „Pigs,“ thought Liv. There was a large garbage can beside the path as if it had been prepared to be emptied. Intuitively, she raised the lid and shivered. A pungent smell of putrefaction rose in her nose and made her eyes water because the waste was nothing more than dead bodies, dead baby bodies. But what was that? Didn’t something move there? On top was a piglet that was apparently not quite dead yet. Liv picked it out. The heart was still beating, but it still looked as if it were closer to death than to life. Liv went home as fast as she could and Nanna followed her carefree. „Bred to feed us. Then why were there so many dead? Why do you throw so many away?“, She thought as she ran because she didn’t want to waste any more time. And tears ran down her face.

Go to part 2 here