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The Guardian - US
The Guardian - US
Environment
H Conley in Watkins Glen, New York

The best way to raise cows sustainably? Set them free

A newborn calf runs after farmer Brett Chedzoy tags it and gives the calf a selenium shot.
A newborn calf runs after farmer Brett Chedzoy tags it and gives the calf a selenium shot. Photograph: Heather Ainsworth

Brett Chedzoy and his wife, Maria, live on a 300-acre farm in Watkins Glen, a small town along the Finger Lakes in New York, with 100 cows – primarily Black Angus, with a few White Galloways scattered throughout the herd.

The farm, Angus Glen, has lush green pastures and wooded areas, where black walnut and black locust trees stretch skyward out of rolling seas of tall grasses, shrubs and clovers. When Chedzoy, 54, walks through the pasture at sunset, the cows pop their heads up, follow him and wait patiently at the gate. As he pulls it aside, the cows rush forward into the wooded area to nibble on tree branches and shrubs, before turning their attention to the emerald grass around the trees.

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