Adonis Diaries

“Take that dog, pour on kerosine, and burn it”: Order literally obeyed

Raising cows for milk? : May 18, 2010

There are many cases of violence on pets.

For example, many cats lost an eye by youth targeting an eye for pleasure; an owner of a dog felt bored and ordered the attendant of the building to take the dog, pour on kerosine and burn it; the attendant literally obeyed the order.

My nephew and I started the trip to the Bekaa Valley around 7:45 am and we returned by 8:30 pm.

Mother prepared us two sandwiches of jam and cheese; they were returned intact.  About forty minutes drive and Cedric felt ravenous; we stopped at a restaurant in the town Majdal Tarshish and had “mankoushet” of whole wheat grain without sugar.

We took the mountainous road of Dhour el Chouweir-Tarshish- Zahlet.

Cedric was to call Lorice as we reached Chtoura to lead us to the farm land.

The Destination was in Kab Elias, sort of about 7 miles south.  I noted that the main entrance to the famous vineyard (winery) KSARA was located on the highway.

The farm was actually a cow raising industry for milking cows; about 60 heads producing one thousand liters of milk per day for 305 days a year.

A cow is not  productive for two months before it gives birth to aid in the birth process. Milking resumes just after birth by allocating a portion for the calf.

A cow gives birth about 4 times in its lifespan before its milk production is evaluated in the declining trend of less than 25 litres per day.  Increased illness frequency adds to decision of making use of its meat.  A cow is milked twice a day using mechanical equipment; once early morning and again around 4 pm.

A milk and cheese factory picks up the milk production everyday in refrigerated trucks. A calf is not productive for two years, unless sold.

Beside injecting cows with medicines for infection of the mammals, the vagina, pulmonary diseases and four other ailments, cows are not much trouble.  Now, if you integrate the business vertically by establishing wholesale cow feed enterprise and an animal pharmacy shop, then you can secure substantial profit.

Profit can be generated in many other venues:

First, by importing pedigree cows from Holland and selling them in Syria at a large profit margin.  Pedigree sheets come with names of the great grand father and mother cows; heck, we the citizens in Lebanon do not enjoy the honor of such detailed pedigrees as German or Dutch cows. Apparently, Lebanon and Syria forbid commerce in cows; this slight trouble is bypassed by intentional loose borders, along with secondary roads that circumvent stupid non economical regulations.  Original Syrian and Lebanese cows are not considered productive for the milking industry.

A second venue for increasing profit is by renting the space for horses: horses eat the same food and get along with cows.  I failed to ask if raising pigs with cows is a good idea: pigs are excellent in going through leftovers.  I guess collecting manure could be a good source for profit.

I got into thinking:  How about installing in-ground water jets directed toward the mammals as cows are eating before each milking?  Cows will be pleased, the milking would be facilitated with probable long-term increase in milk production, and the consumers will be satisfied with such “healthy” promotional ads.  The main disadvantage is the stench. 

I read that cow industries are major sources of CO2 production that are ruining our environment.  I also read that the Australian government is seriously thinking of destroying the one million wild camels because they generate enormous amount of CO2.

There are not much you can do in a cow farm, if visiting. 

Time drags on and you feel like napping most of the day.  The weather is dry and your eyes are dry and reading becomes a difficult alternative to killing time.  In my case, it turned out to be a busy day: more than 40 people came by for one reason or another; and I had the luxury of listening and communicating with more people than I meet in months.  For example:

A group of American students dropped by at noon; they intended to taste wine at Kefraya vineyard and then head on to visiting Baalbek.  They were from Vermont, Boston, Jersey, Silver Spring (Maryland) and studying at the university of Alexandria in Egypt.  They are enrolled in Semitic courses (mainly Arabic and Hebrew); I failed to investigate further whether they know that Aramaic is the root language for Arabic, Hebrew, and Syriac (still spoken by many minorities in Syria, Iraq, and Turkey).

The group of Americans had two more days to tour Lebanon; they intended to visit Byblos and south Lebanon.

They could Not enjoy the public beaches in Egypt because women are practically fully dressed; they had to drive 5 hours west to the coastal town of Marsa Matrouh by Libya’s borders for some privacy.  I asked them if they investigated the availability of nude beaches: it never crossed their mind.

In mostly rural Vermont, you dig 160 feet and you reach fresh water wells. I said “The Amazon and Congo virgin equatorial forests will vanish but Vermont will remain intact”

I chatted with students at the Lebanese university in Fanar: they were not happy with the crowded learning environment of 300 students filling amphitheaters.  Most of these professors teach in private universities and they do field questions in restricted classroom sizes but not in public universities.

I learned also that private “foyers” or dormitories are also crowded: 11 girls in a single apartment with 4 bathrooms. Those university students who are not from the district of Metn believe that Fanar is in Beirut.  That is why it is preferable to name the coastal towns as belonging to Greater Beirut and save the humiliation that many districts are subjected to for being ignored by university students.

A relative to the owner of the farm came by and talked politics; especially on municipal election in Kab Elias.  Kab Elias is the vastest town in the Bekaa Valley and has 55 thousand inhabitant with only 10,000 registered to vote of which 5,000 voted.  He lost the election but considered himself a winner compared to the $2 million spent by the contending list of candidates.

I learned about the Beta dog organization that receives donations from foreign organizations to caring for the 300 dogs in the shelter at Mansourieh. French ex-actress Brigitte Bardot had donated 8,000 Euro last month.

Anyone interested in owning a dog has to undergo strict interviews and expect to be inspected twice a year for the dog comfort environment.

There are many cases of violence on pets.

For example, many cats lost an eye by youth targeting an eye for pleasure; an owner of a dog felt bored and ordered the attendant of the building to take the dog, pour on kerosine and burn it; the attendant literally obeyed the order.

Another dog owner got fed up with his barking dog living in the restricted balcony: he carried the dog and threw it over the balcony (problem solved).

A rich person had 7 dogs and donated money to charities but would not care for the dog.  One dog died in the the arms of the volunteer as the owner was on a vacation trip.

I got into talking with George; he is finishing his dissertation in Toulouse (France); he developed a software for handicapped individuals who can barely move a single finger.  A trackball is to be used and the QWERTY keyboard is displayed on the screen.  The handicapped person will point to a couple of characters and then a list of option names will be displayed to choose from.  George validated speed and accuracy of the software by experimenting with three subjects.  I blurted out that three candidates is not enough.  During the day, George was eating potatoes chips from a bowl and then, when he was satisfied he passed the bowl around and skipped me.

Gaby told me that you dig 6 meters and you obtain fresh water wells in Kab Elias.  Fruit gardens of peaches (about 8,000 sq.meters each) are flooded for an entire day. Given the number of gardens in that particular sector each garden is flooded every 20 days.  Gaby said: “Peaches of Kab Elias are the best in the world”.  We don’t get to enjoy Kab Elias peaches because refrigerated 8 and 16 wheeler wait to transport the harvest directly to Saudi Arabia, Syria, and Jordan.  I have eaten great tasting peaches in Lebanon; maybe they are not grown in Kab Elias; otherwise, I would die happy here and now.

I learned from Nada that her cousin Izi spend 6 months a year among tribal primitive people and six months in Lebanon.  Izi draw the daily life and  primitive people but she does not take pictures or even publish her diary for the benefit of us all: Izi is financed by her rich uncle and thus, has no compunction for sharing her knowledge.  Nada said that Izi has already toured the world.  Nada is to run the private museum in Jal El Deeb within two months that her rich uncle (brother of her grand father), living in Lauzane (Switzerland), is financing.

It seems that youth are very poor in tiny Lebanon geography.  No one of the subjects from the Middle Bekaa Valley district ever heard of Kesrowan.

Cedric had the hardest task of the day: He sat for 8 hours interviewing volunteered candidates for the experiment in a hot tent and sitting on a thin cushion.  He barely had two short breaks to have a quick lunch and then a cup of orange juice.  He ended up with a terrible back-pain.  I would suggest that the jury be reminded that the main controlling variable in the experiment was the ultimate discomfort that subjects were subjected to in order to extracting valuable confessions.

Going tangent has two advantages: first, novels that occasionally go tangent add spices and meat to the skeleton of mostly deja-vue stories; and second, going tangent is the trademark or main criteria of fun loving cultures.