Green farce at Green Mountain College: Warm-weather-preventing ox gets euthanized to prevent his suffering in cold weather

America's Top Ten Coolest Schools - Sept/Oct 2011 - Sierra Magazine - Sierra Club

Cattle helped Green Mountain, in Poultney, Vermont, achieve climate neutrality. The school gets upward of half its energy from Central Vermont Cow Power, a utility that harnesses biogas from manure. Above, students learn to drive GMC's oxen for spring plowing. The school's agricultural projects are an experiment in fossil-free farming—instead of tractors, draft animals do much of the work.

Nov. 2012:  Vermont College Euthanizes One Ox, Spares Another - NYTimes.com

A working ox named Lou, who in recent weeks became arguably his species’ most prominent representative, died on Sunday in pastoral Vermont, euthanized after his impending slaughter stirred a face-off between sustainable farmers in the state and animal rights advocates from around the world.
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For Green Mountain College, where Lou tilled the fields with his teammate, a second ox named Bill, this was never the plan. After about 10 years at the college, Lou sustained an injury to his right rear hock over the summer. The college decided to slaughter both animals and serve them in the dining hall, viewing the action as an execution of the college’s sustainable-farming mission.
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Lou’s quality of life continued to diminish, and, with slaughter now out of the question, the college elected euthanization.

“The arrival of cold temperatures and icy conditions are certain to increase his suffering, and we have concurred with our veterinarians’ judgment that it was not humane for him to suffer further,” read a statement released by the college on Sunday...“It’s really sad to me, wasting 2,000 pounds of meat and putting it into the ground to decompose,” said Baylee Drown, an assistant farm manager at Green Mountain College. “And still having the end result being having the oxen being dead.”