Cow blowing, Kuhblasen, phooka, or doom dev is a process in which a farmer forcefully blows air into a cow's vulva or anus to supposedly induce her to produce more milk. A tube may be used to provide some sanitary separation between the blower and the cow, although not every culture that practices cow blowing does so.
Information on the origin, spread and efficacy of this practice appears to be quite scarce. Depictions of this practice have been found on Saharan rock art in Libya and Algeria.
Cow blowing was the reason why Gandhi disliked dairy products, stating that "since I had come to know that the cow and the buffalo were subjected to the process of phooka, I had conceived a strong disgust for milk."
The practice has been illegal in New Zealand since 2018. In 2020 the New Zealand Dairy Industry Awards revoked their 'Share Farmer of the Year' award over a dairy farmer's tweets about the practice.
Distribution according to Plischke (1954)
PeopleAreaAuthorYearSee (also)OtherKalmyksouthern Russian steppePeter Simon Pallas1776ScythiansHerodotus5th century BC(to horses)YakutsLena River (Siberia)Gerhard Friedrich Müller1736EthiopiansEthiopiaI. M. Hildebrandt1874KaffaFriedrich J. Bieber1920NuerH. A. Bernatzik1929E. E. Evans-Pritchard (1951); Luz H, Herz W (1976)DinkaH. A. Bernatzik1930Baggara ArabsKordofanMcMichael1924SomaliC. Keller1894OromoPh. Paulischke1893Wasiba (part of Haya people)Kagera RegionH. Rehse1910Per Rehse, Wasiba insert their arm into the cow anus up the elbow for the same purposeTuru peopleE. Sick1915WagogoH. Clauss1911KhoikhoiSouth AfricaPeter Kolb1719Masa peopleLogone area south of ChadA. Rühe1938ChineseTung River (China)I. H. Edgar1924Dadu River (Sichuan province)IndiaT. Murari1937Mahatma Gandhi (1927/1929)known locally as phookaAlps (Untergurgl, upper Ötztal), Pfitscher Joch1939Pyrenees1939
Literature Hans Plischke: "Das Kuhblasen. Eine völkerkundliche Miszelle zu Herodot,' Zeitschrift für Ethnologie, Berlin: Reimer, Bd. 79, 1954, S. 1-7. H. A. Bernatzik: Zwischen Weißem Nil und Belgisch-Kongo. Wien 1929 Isaac Schapera: The Khoisan Peoples of South Africa. London 1930 Tadeusz Margul: "Present-Day Worship of the Cow in India." In: Numen, Vol. 15, No. 1 (Feb., 1968), pp. 63–80 Florence Burgat: "Non-Violence Towards Animals in the Thinking of Gandhi: the Problem of Animal Husbandry." In: Journal of Agricultural and Environmental Ethics, Volume 17, Number 3 / Mai 2004, Seiten 223-248 Hubert Kroll: "Das Zurückhalten der Milch bei Rindern und ihre Behandlung bei afrikanischen Hirtenstämmen." In: Milchwirtschaftliches Zentralblatt (1928), Jg. 57, Heft 22, S. 349-350 Hubert Kroll: "Die Haustiere der Bantu." In: Zeitschrift für Ethnologie Bd. 60, S. 247-248 Sture Lagercrantz: Contribution of the Ethnography of Africa. Lund: Håkan Ohlssons 1950 (mit Karte zur Verbreitung in Afrika, auch zur Verbreitung des milking with dummy-calves ("Melkens mit Kalbspuppen")
References
External links