There is a major difference between humans and domestic farm animals.
Humans have a clear sense of time. As Robert Burns emphasized in his address to the mouse he disturbed while ploughing.
Still, thou art blest, compar’d wi’ me!
The present only toucheth thee:
But Och! I backward cast my e’e,
On prospects drear!
An’ forward tho’ I canna see,
I guess an’ fear!
In other words, if our domestic animals have no sense of time, their lifetime will seem an eternity, no matter how long or short on a human time-scale. And just as significant, they have no sense of life or death as we know it.
Humans have a clear sense of time. As Robert Burns emphasized in his address to the mouse he disturbed while ploughing.
Still, thou art blest, compar’d wi’ me!
The present only toucheth thee:
But Och! I backward cast my e’e,
On prospects drear!
An’ forward tho’ I canna see,
I guess an’ fear!
In other words, if our domestic animals have no sense of time, their lifetime will seem an eternity, no matter how long or short on a human time-scale. And just as significant, they have no sense of life or death as we know it.