Time Magazine Cover Shows Mom Breastfeeding 4-Year-Old Son: Did They Go Too Far?

I grew up on a dairy farm and can tell you that cows are probably one of the dummiest creatures on the face of the earth. You think they feel emotions? Well, in the whole time I worked with them I never saw it.

You attribute emotions to them because some Disney-like cartoon told you that's the way they are, when reality is far from the fantasy. You try to make a friend out of a Cow and the thing will run right over you one day. You can't blame them; they didn't think anything of it, that was the way they were going ~ you were a minor moveable object in the way.

These "sentient beings" will lay out in a thunderstorm instead of go into an open barn (I know I've had to drive them in the middle of the night).

A calf will nurse on the nearest cow whether it is its dam or just a handy source. If a calf dies they nuzzles it to check for life, yet so do other cows (bulls don't) and then move on. Never noticed any weeping. In fact, the domesticated bovine is less "feeling" as you put it than their wild cousins.

Wild water buffalo will circle and protect their calves from predators. Cows will run away from stray dogs leaving the calf behind defenseless, even though they could easily stomp a dog (which a calf can't).

Simply Cows on average mass about times humans with a brain only 1/3 the size of ours. You are giving an awful lot of credit to a domesticated lumbering giant.

If you see no difference between a cat and a cow you should consider their encephalization quotient where brain size and body mass are factored in with a standard for mammals of epirically factor of r = 0.66 and a C constant representing the cephalization quotient. For your humans this results in an EQ = 7.44, your cat's EQ = 1.00, and a cow's EQ = 0.825

Examples. For example, the Romans believed that a child should not be totally weaned, though "weaning" simply means that they are introduced to other things (that's not how most people use it), until they were three years-old, or they had all of their baby teeth.

And according to nature's example via other mammals:
Katherine A. Dettwyler, a scientist with Texas A&M University, made conclusions about the natural age of weaning as follows:

Natural Weaning Age by Dental Eruption: 5.5 - 6 years

Most primates wean their young when the first permanent molars begin erupting. Some scientists have suggested that this is because a child's immune system reaches maturity at about this same time; a possible indicator that full immune protection was in breastmilk until fairly recently in our species' evolutionary history. Although children at this age receive little immune protection from breastmilk because of changes in our biology, some advocates of extended breastfeeding feel that this is still an emotionally natural weaning age.

Natural Weaning Age by Adult Weight: 4 - 7 years

In the natural world, many animals wean their young when the offspring reach approximately one third of their adult body weight. In humans, this time comes anywhere between four and seven years of age-- possibly sooner and possibly later. By this method of natural weaning, boys would be breastfed longer than girls owing to slowed growth after the toddler years for boys-- although, by other methods of determining natural weaning age, girls would be breastfed longer.

Natural Weaning Age by Gestation Length: 4.5 years

In large-bodied mammals, the duration of nursing is high compared to the length of gestation. Large primates like bonobos, gorillas, and orangutans-- humankind's closest relatives-- breastfeed their young for an average of six times the length of gestation. With the average gestation length in humans reaching 40 weeks, this places the natural weaning age at about four and a half years. It is interesting to note that animals with larger brains tend to nurse their young the longest, relative to the length of gestation.

Natural Weaning Age by Adult Body Size: 2.8 -3.7 years

Continuing to compare the human gestational length to other large primates, we might notice that gorillas and chimpanzees happen to reach one third of their adult size at around the time that they are weaned-- also the time when they reach six times their gestation length and begin to get permanent molars. All humans are different from one another, but most children will reach one third of their adult size between 2.8 and 3.7 years.

Natural Weaning Age by Birth Weight: 25 - 32 months

Small mammals tend to wean their young when the offspring have tripled their birth weight, although larger mammals, including intelligent primates, will more likely breastfeed until the young have attained four times the average birth weight. This calculation still presents a natural weaning age that is significantly longer than the "normal" accepted weaning age in Western culture. A conservative age estimate compared to some others, this rule of thumb indicates that weaning should begin no earlier than 25 months in humans.

Studies have shown that a child's immune system doesn't completely mature until about 6 years of age, and it is well established that breast milk helps develop the immune system and augment it with maternal antibodies as long as breast milk is produced (up to two years, no studies have been done on breast milk composition after two years post partum).

And on and on. The minimum predicted age for a natural age of weaning in humans is 2.5 years, with a maximum of 7.0 years.

The above is source-derived material from the lady doctor. Of course, the whole issue with breastfeeding really started a long time ago. European nobility were "above" breastfeeding their babies, and they brought that horrible outlook with them whenever they infested new places. It was seen as "instinctive" and "natural," completely unsuitable for "civilized" man. Well, until a time in the U.S., when it was used as a means to discourage the feminist movement by encouraging breastfeeding, which kept a woman housebound, basically due to having to breastfeed every two hours.