Former monk, Grahame Barritt, has founded Wale’s first cow cuddling therapy service, ‘Cow Companions’, which offers people a chance to hug a cow in return for mental health relief.
Originally from Essex in England, Barritt had harboured aspirations of becoming a farmer before he became a vegetarian in his teenage years.
He later embraced Hinduism and joined a temple at the age of 19. It was here where his love for the humble cow grew and he ran the cow sanctuary on site until he eventually hung up his robes at 25-years-old.
In Hinduism, the cow is considered sacred, symbolising wealth, strength and maternal love.
While no longer practicing as a monk, he still consults his guru in India and his faith continues to shape his beliefs, particularly his reverence for cows.
Barritt originally established a private cow sanctuary on his rented property before he opened his gates to the public.
“When I was young, I had a really really strong desire that I wanted to be a farmer, and then when I was 16, I became vegetarian, so I kind of forgot about it.
“A few years after, I left the temple, I just thought, oh my god, I really, really miss cows and I was living in a situation where there was some land available, so I started up with two cows and it just continued from there. That was about 23 years ago,” he said.
Cow sanctuary
He started adopting cows that were previously farmed or kept as pets in some situations.
“Different people started getting in touch saying, ‘Oh, I’ve got a pet cow that I can’t keep’, some local farmers have even gotten in touch with me when they’ve a favourite cow that’s at the end of it’s working life and they don’t want to send it off to the factory,” he said.
To support the sanctuary, Barritt worked as a farm contractor, making hay and sileage for neighbouring farmers, in return for a share of the crop to sustain his herd but margins were tight, prompting him to turn to other revenue avenues.
“I’m on Universal Credit and they called me in for a meeting a couple of years ago where I spoke with my work coach about my sanctuary and she was really, really impressed.
“We came up with the idea of starting Cow Companions together and they created the website for me, which was launched two years ago this September,” he added.
Cow Cuddling
Cow cuddling, known as ‘koe knuffelen’ in Dutch, originated in The Netherlands over a decade ago, whereby city folk would flock to the countryside to connect with farm animals to avail of the therapeutic benefits associated with the practice.
While the advantages of animal and human interactions have long been established, there is a growing body of research confirming the psychological and physiological benefits of spending time with farm animals, which had previously been neglected in favour of domesticated animals.
More recently, a new field dedicated to animal assisted therapy in general has been established and has found evidence that many diagnosed psychological conditions can be managed without or with limited pharmacological intervention.
Since starting Cow Companions, Barritt has been pleasantly taken aback by the level of support he has received from fellow animal lovers, and has welcomed visitors from all around the world who are all seek solace from his bovine’s embrace.
“I’ve always done everything by myself so it’s really amazing to get some support.
“For the first six months, we had one visitor a week but since last summer, we get at least six to 10 visitors every week.
“I’m so happy to offer the opportunity for people who just really love cows, but haven’t found anywhere where they can meet and get close to them.
“Sometimes we’ve had ladies come and they just end up crying because they find it so emotional,” he said.
What originally started as a donation based service, now costs £25 per person, which enables Barritt to cover his rent and the adjacent costs of keeping his herd.
The two hour sessions start with brief introductions to the members of the herd and their personal backstories before participants are encouraged to develop a rapport with the animals.
“The whole experience is about finding the cow they feel the deepest connection with,” Barritt added.
Barritt waxed lyrical about the docile temperament of cows and their inherent affectionate natures, insisting that they reciprocate the love and affect they receive.
“Cows respond to their environment and when we have cows coming in from other farms, they can see that the other cows around are under no duress and within one to two weeks they just settle down.
“I don’t do anything special with the cows. I just treat them with love and affection and they return it,” he said.
Barritt milks some of his herd for personal use and has remarked on the amazing capacity of some to produce milk years after they were in calf.
“We’ve got one cow who had a calf and continued to produce milk for another eight years thereafter.
“We took in another cow a couple years ago who just had a calf. She was 18 at the time of adoption but she’s 20 now and still milking to date, not that I like to milk her but she’s giving too much milk at the moment to just to just dry her off.
“Sometimes, I just think maybe it’s our love and affection, maybe they see us as a calf,” Barritt speculates.
The ex-monk aspires to expand the sanctuary in the future to take in more animals as it currently stands at full capacity.
He also hopes to purchase land to secure a permanent home for his herd and to continue to share the many health properties associated with cow cuddling therapy with as many people as possible.
