Jay Wilde was a young man with big dreams. Growing up on his family’s farm, he wanted to follow in the footsteps of his engineer grandfather and work at Rolls Royce. However, life had other plans and Jay found himself adapting to the farming lifestyle of his own father.
But this lifestyle brought a growing unease within him, as he started to realize how animals were treated on farms and slaughtered for human consumption. It didn’t sit right with him that these animals had personalities, experienced the world, and yet were treated in such a way. He felt torn between doing his job and betraying those he saw as individuals.
Then one day, Katja came to work on the farm for two months while she studied English. She met Jay and heard about his dilemma regarding slaughtering animals. He opened her eyes to the injustices that surrounded them and soon enough they decided it was time for change. So they walked away from city life and set out to build something better together on their farm — Bradley Nook Farm.
What ensued was an uphill battle against time as they tried to implement their radical changes into farming practices. The tension was overwhelming as Katja watched her husband struggle emotionally with what he needed to do in order to succeed as a farmer. Eventually, they chose vegan organic farming over cattle farming but then were left questioning what to do with their 73 cows?
This journey is documented in the award-winning BAFTA short film titled ’73 Cows’. In this thought-provoking film we get an intimate look at Jay and Katja’s story of transformation — from cow farmers to vegan activists — as they explore modern agriculture through an ethical lens. This film provides us with an opportunity to reflect upon our own relationship with food, nature, health, animal welfare, climate change and more complex issues of global sustainability that are so often overlooked or unknown in today’s world. So don’t miss your chance; watch ’73 Cows’ now!
