The Happiest Cows On Earth

With all due respect to California and their extremely efficient factory dairies, there's a farm not far from here that must have the happiest cows in the world if research published in this Sunday's New York Times is to be believed.

At Sassy Cow Creamery, they not only name their cows, but attach trading cards with each cow's picture and a brief note about that cow to every bottle of milk. This is a nice symbol for the dairy that brings their philosophy of "the cows come first" directly to the consumer.

At a time when people are more and more concerned about the origin of their food and wonder about the effects of antibiotics, hormones and other additives, this sort of transparency is reassuring.

And profitable.

With more than 500 cows on their farm, producing both non-organic and organic milk, Sassy Cow bottles their milk on the same day it's produced so it's fresher. It sells for a significant premium to the commodity brands.

So not only are the cows happier, the dairymen are as well.