Cattle Breeding Ranch

On Sunday May 29^th, we visited a cattle breeding ranch outside of Seville. I had just gone to my first ever bull fight the Friday before so this was really unique to hear how the bull gets to the actual ring. Raphael helped us understand the meaning of bull fights, the history behind them, and how the process plays out. He explained to us that the male bull that will fight in the arena cannot come in contact with a human in an arena until the day he is to be killed. Therefore, the cattle breeding ranch owners pick the bulls based on a series of tests the mother of the bulls go through. These tests determine the bravery, aggressiveness, and instinct of the mother. Raphael explained that this is a tradition because it’s a “respectful” way for the bull to die. He really opened my eyes because I think we’re (me and other Americans) are disconnected to how we get our food.  We just eat it when it’s served and we never think that the animal probably came from massive processing plants or slaughter houses where it wasn’t treated with respect at all. At least in Spain they watch the animal go down with a fight and in dignity and they can say they will use every bit of the animal they killed. I had a totally different perspective that Friday night as I was watching all these bulls get killed. It felt inhumane and sad. Now, thanks to Raphael I can see both sides of the argument. I’m glad I made myself go and was able to experience the tradition and now know the meaning behind it.

               To conclude this field trip, we drove through the ranch fields and saw several bulls eating. Then we had a nice lunch set up for us in the middle of the cattle field. It was an experience like no other. This was by far my favorite field trip.