Of all my animals, I think Elvis and the other steer and cow, Harold and Luna, bother me the most, in terms of perspective and ethics. Elvis is a 3,000 lb Swiss Steer, and such creatures are not really pets. He’s sweet and I am very fond of him, yet keeping an animal like this is difficult and expensive. He eats quite a bit, so there is hay, water and the removal of lots of manure.
  Given challenging times, it bothers me sometimes to see an animal like Elvis as a pet, especially in an agricultural area where farmers struggle so mightily to get by, and where animals are rarely viewed as members of the family. I’m never quite sure about it. Elvis is a fortunate creature, given the life of most steers and cows, yet he is not self-aware and has no sense of himself as lucky, I don’t imagine.
  On the book tour, I talked a lot about perspective. It is okay to spend $2,000 or more on a urinary infection for a dog or cat when so many kids in America don’t even have health care? I’m not sure. I went out to see Elvis today and brought him an apple, which he inhaled greedily. I write about these animals and make my living from them, so that is one of the ways I justify it.
  And Elvis, as much as any of the animals on the farm, has changed me and taught me something about the accepting nature of animals, and how they do have lives, and relationships. Perspective is a tough thing to come by in the animal world, and one of the gifts of the farm is that I am forced to think about it, and focus on it.