Germany's meat industry is caught up in scandals（丑行）, and returns for farmers are shrinking（收缩）. Is this the end of farming as we know it? Should I ring the vet when a calf（[解剖] 腓肠） is born（承担）, or should I wait till tomorrow and let fate（命运） take its course? Has the time come to stop putting profit before animal welfare（幸福）? It's a miracle（奇迹） that this cow is still alive. Given the milk she has produced and the way she's been kept, it's incredible that she still allows humans to touch her.

  Only cows are this good-natured. I don't think you could exploit（开拓） any other animal to this extent（程度）. In Germany, animal rights activists（积极分子） have begun teaming up with farmers. We want a society in which animals are no longer used for our benefit. But we still have far to go, and it's not easy for farmers to switch. The call came in around 9 a.m.

  A livestock（牲畜） dealer（经销商） said there was a disabled（ 残疾的） cow and a small calf（[解剖] 腓肠） that won't put on weight. They were being sent to the slaughterhouse. Animal rights activists Yulia Dünze and Timo Gois immediately set out to rescue（营救） them. Hi, great, you're here. I was a bit quicker. Vet Nicole Cherzo was already waiting for them.

  Let's see what you found（找到）. The cow has a disabled rear（后方的） leg and the calf（[解剖] 腓肠） didn't grow properly. It came here as the runt. And they found each other. Exactly, the little calf nuzzles at her teeth and the cow adopted（采用） it. She's going to be five in December.

  Why wasn't she wanted? Because of the leg. Most likely the cow injured herself in the shed（流出）. She can't be milked anymore. The calf is too weak for the meat industry. Neither are lucrative（有利的） prospects（展望）, so they were selected（挑选） to be culled（精选）.

  The little one looks good, even though he's not growing normally. He's alert（警惕的） and active. It's nice to see. Oh, good. In the livestock industry, they're often finished by the time they are five or six and sent for slaughter（屠宰）. But a cow can actually live 20 years or more.

  Of course, it's one thing to have to produce and another to live in peace. She probably can't produce enough milk for her owner anymore. But option two shouldn't be a problem. Originally destined（ 指定） for the slaughterhouse, cow and calf are now getting a new lease（租借） on life. They will be brought to a Lebenshof, a so-called farm of life. The farm in central Germany belongs to Matthias Obenhak.

  It's a family farm where everyone does their bit. The Obenhaks have always been open to new farming ideas. But none were profitable（有利可图的）, including pig breeding. In Germany, after costs are deducted（扣除）, a farmer earns three euros for a pig, not per kilo, per animal. The family didn't want to sell their farm. Instead, they made（使） a radical（基本的） change a few weeks ago.

  Animals here no longer have to produce eggs or milk, nor will they be slaughtered. Matthias and his father Hans Martin now run a farm of life, funded（投资） by donations（捐款）. It's difficult for us, for me, to get our heads around. But after long consideration（考虑）, I think it's the only chance we still have. It was born of necessity（需要）, from the desire（愿望） to keep the farm, because organic（[有化] 有机的） grain prices have also just dropped again. This is just about the last option we have.

  It wasn't just his decision, let alone mine. It was a joint（共同的） decision, and now we want to do it. Two years ago, I didn't even know about farms of life, and that there were so many of them. I found out through evening classes, during my agricultural（ 农业的） training. I then actively（活跃地） looked for an association（协会） to work（使工作） with that would allow us to slowly develop. You need to completely change your mindset.

  That isn't always easy. Sometimes you slip（滑动） back into old habits, but we don't have another option. Around noon（正午）, the cow and the calf（[解剖] 腓肠） arrived. Timo and Julia were there to help, too. Four years ago, they founded（创立） an association（协会） called "Initziativa Liebensteere", or the Animals for Life Initiative（主动）. The association is financed（筹集资金） by donations（捐款） and has saved many animals from the chopping（砍） block. Come on, take it slowly.

  The cow and the little calf are taking their first steps to freedom（自由）. They can stay on the Obenhaaks farm until they die a natural death. Around 30 kilometers away is the old farmhouse that Julia Dünsul and Timo Gois live and work in. Julia earns her living as a social worker. She works for the association on a voluntary（自愿的） basis, without getting paid. Most of the time, she takes care of the association's website, social media accounts and emails.

  They get messages every day from people asking them to save an animal, a pig, a chicken or a cow. It's often very emotional（感情的）. I have an example here, Zanza. She was in dairy（牛奶场） production for almost 15 years. Then she stopped producing enough milk to be profitable. Maybe she couldn't have any more calves.

  If a cow can't bear calves, it can't keep producing milk. And so she was selected to be slaughtered. The cow had spent her entire（全部的） life in human service, being milked. And then she was just going to be killed. A few weeks ago, they managed to save Zanza the cow from that feed（饲料）. Physiotherapist Julia Schröder regularly works for the association on a voluntary basis.

  Here, she wanted to take a closer look at Zanza. The cow now lives on one of the farms Julia and Timo's association partners with. Zanza had to bear 11 calves, so she would continuously provide milk for the farmers. Overall（全部地）, she produced more than 100,000 liters of milk. That took its toll（通行费）. There are bony（(Bony)人名） growths, but also water retention（保留） in the joint（共同的）.

  I can touch it, so it doesn't seem to hurt. But there's arthritis（关节炎）, too. Oh, that hurts. Sebastian Diebel took over his grandparents' farm three years ago. Before long, he changed course and turned it into a farm of life. He's now taking care of 20 retired cows.

  When she got here, her otter（水獭） was so distended that it would sometimes drag（拖） on the ground when she was on the hill. Now it's shrunk back a bit.