I had a look at Google pix but they show mostly the farm buildings and cottages and only one shot of cattle in a field. And they look quite happy and healthy.... so what exactly did you see? I note these are Friesian/Holstein dairy cattle - these can often show bony "points" especially around the hips, but this is not a sign of starvation - you would expect to see the ribs clearly and deep hollows along the spine (a slight dip along the spine is often seen in this breed but not a sign of starvation. Note that in many photographs on Google of this breed you are looking at fattened up show animals. As well, depending on when you saw the animals, a little "ribbiness" is not necessarily starvation - cows that suckle calves or produce lots of milk and are only on grass can lose some weight. As for mud on the animals, in a country where it rains often and long, cows can have very muddy legs and bodies (because they lie down to chew the cud) and need a good hose-down before milking. And what about the bags you saw? Were these like feedbags ( not uncommon around a farm), or clearly rubbish? Or plastic-wrapped silage (hay)?
PS I note that the cattle in the photograph are said to belong to Harraton Farm, and were photographed from a bend in the A379, the road that you would have come by.Statistics: Posted by Cobie — Sun Jul 10, 2011 2:15 am
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