Abnormal Pickett Farm Creation

According to the veterinarian who facilitated the delivery, it was the first time in his 38 year career that he saw something like this. For the farm owners, it was equally as odd and crazy. When helping guide the calf out of the mother, the thought of twins went through the minds of those present. After all, why else would there be two heads? Quite to their surprise...:

So when my co-worker said, "you'll never believe what happened on the farm this past weekend," she was right! Two Headed Cow! Crazy.

Of course I immediately had a list of suggestive questions for her, many likely stemming from my recent completion of "Our Stolen Future". This book by Theo Colborn, Dianne Dumanoski, and John Peterson Myers reviews scientific studies about endocrine disruption created by man-made chemical contaminants that interfere with hormones in humans and wildlife. The interrogation went like this:

" Do you use Recombinant Bovine Growth Hormone (rBGH) on your animals?" Answer: No

" Do you feed your livestock purchased food that could contain same species meat and other growth-enhancing drugs?" Answer: No, we grow all of our own feed.

"Ah ha! You use heavy pesticides, don't you?" Answer: No, we don't really use pesticides or herbicides.

Now I was running out of ideas. "Chemical Fertilizers?" Answer: Yes, we use quite a bit of fertilizer on our crops.

So we had it.. or maybe not. After all, what really do I know about farming, or fertilizers. Or two-headed calf for that matter. I know I've read this report called Waste Lands: The Threat of Toxic Fertilizer, and I've read through much of the great farming information on the National Sustainable Agriculture Information Service website, and I receive my regular email updates from the Organic Consumer Association.

Who knows, it could be genetically-modified seeds, or something in the water used. It could be a lack of genetic variation in the breeding techniques, or more likely than all of the other possibilities, it could just be one of those 1-in-38-years-of-deliveries type of freak thing that happens.

Regardless, a two-headed cow in Pickett is always a crazy thing.