Cows, cover your eyes.

I called my sister today. She had just watched someone slaughter a cow and I wanted to know how it went. She's an animal science major. She likes to make dinner conversation about bull castration. This was par for the course.

I had read her blog earlier today and learned that the slaughter involved decapitation. So, naturally, my first question was about the instrument at hand. Do they use something like a circular saw? Or is it more like a guillotine? I wanted to know. I wanted to picture it. I would, of course, regret this later.

"They just use a knife," she said. A knife? I tried to picture it. Was it a machete? Does a circus strongman with a stomach of steel just saw the thing clean off? Just how does this process work, anyway?

"They stun it, then hang it up by it's hind legs and cut it's throat," she said. "They use the cow's blood pressure to pump out the blood," she said. And then, "Hey, my workout class is about to start, so I gotta go." Just like that. Hm.

Apparently there's some also flailing and some involuntary mooing involved, but I didn't want to get into all that. The hanging slit-throat cow image is enough. It's the kind of image that will flash before your eyes when you're eating your Cheerios one fine morning and make you push your bowl away.

But of course, I wanted to learn more. I did some more research into the topic, which I learned is termed exsanguination. You can learn all about it on this nifty website. There's even a flash animation of a cow being exsanguinated and lots of cartoon blood shooting all over the place.

To be fair to my sister (who is going to veterinary school in the fall, by the way), this experience was necessary. Euthanasia is the only recourse for a very sick or very lame animal. She may have to do it someday when she is a highly successful large animal vet (large animals, not large sister). She didn't vomit. She didn't even faint. She's one tough mama.