ABSTRACT
In this chapter, I explore the death of beef cows. I contrast these deaths with the death of my beloved childhood cat and with the sadness-a kind of dying-in my childhood. I look at the violence of these deaths, but also simply at the ways the deaths are a movement from one state to another, not only for the dying, but for all those involved in and surrounding the death. I try to capture the feel, atmosphere, and experience of these changes. And I use the data or evidence of my life experience along with the lives of cows to tell this story. This chapter is part of a larger project, a book in which I juxtapose the social history of beef ranching with the story of my childhood family, one side of whom were cattle ranchers.
