Monday p.m. Sundance: The Moo Man

Director:  Andy Heathcote.  Codirector: Heike Bachelier.  United Kingdom, 2012, 98 Min., color

World Cinema Documentary Competition.  Opportunity for audience to vote on this film.

Description:  “A year in the life of heroic farmer Steve, scene-stealing Ida (queen of the herd), and a supporting cast of 55 cows. When Ida falls ill, Steve’s optimism is challenged, and their whole way of life is at stake.”

This was a charming and informative documentary.  I will never again say, “dumb as a cow.”

Dairy farming in the U.K., as in any country I am sure, is lots of hard work but the rewards are the relationships with and between the cows.  In the evening when the farmer calls, “Coming in,” they stop eating grass and come into the barn.  Well, at least most of them do.  They have a mind and emotions of their own.  For example, when Ida was loaded into a horse trailer and taken to a raw milk sales event, the cows were waiting and all gathered round when the trailer returned to the farm.  Each had to sniff her to personally make sure she was OK.  Actually ida liked the attention she got from the children at the sales event.  It took 3 men to push her butt into the trailer to go back home.

Farmer Steve has a daily home delivery business of raw milk.  That requires them to keep their cows clean and healthy, undergoing annual TB testing.  Farmer Steve and his father were at the Q&A and told us that the sale of raw milk is what keeps them in business.  They said it costs them 36 cents a pint to produce the milk but they get only 24 cents a pint if they sell it through the regular market system for sale in stores.

During the film 3 calves were born, 1 female and 2 males.  The males were disappointments – they don’t produce milk.  Farmer Steve said males were immediately destroyed on most dairy farms but they didn’t do that.  Ida was one of the mothers.  She was old and apparently didn’t have the strength to deliver by herself.  Farmer Steve tied ropes to the front hooves of the baby and pulled and pulled as hard as he could until the calf was born.   He was exhausted but didn’t go home to dinner.  Another cow had decided to deliver and he had to go immediately to tend to her.  A farmer’s work is never done.

During the Q & A  the filmmaker, Andy Heathcote, told us that when they got news that they were going to Sundance, farmer Steve and his family became celebrities, which promoted their objective of showcasing the plight of the independent, family owned dairy farmer.  This film is an important documentary because independent,  family owned farms in this country are also in economic danger of disappearing.

Lets end on a happy note.  In the spring, after a long winter in the barns, the cows all gathered round when they saw farmer Steve begin to open the doors of the barn.  Once the gates were open and he shouted, “going out,” the cows ran and frolicked all the way to the pastures, just like kids being let out of school.

I voted excellent for this film.

Robin found their web site online, and you can read about the cows, see their farm, get recipes and sign up for their newsletter:  hookandson.co.uk
For this film’s listing in the Sundance Film Festival Guide, click here.