Rather, WE (me and you, my readership) are the owners of a cow. I apologize for the delay. It took about a week to process some of the payments on PayPal for some reason. As more details arrive, I’ll share them, but I wanted to make sure that you all knew that I’ve gone forward and bought the cow. Now if I could just get the milk for free…

Payment Method: CREDIT

The following summarizes your order:

Total: $500.00
ID: 75592991

Thanks again to all of you that donated. You guys are awesome. It’s only 3 1/2 long months until I can eat red meat again. Man, this is going to suck.

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I did it.

Rather, WE did it.

The idea originally came from a fast that Alli and I have been doing. Where the idea came from doesn’t matter anymore. What matters is that - thanks to a last-minute donation by Alli Arnold Art - as of midnight last night, I have the money needed to purchase a dairy cow from Heifer International.

I’ve bent the rules a little to allow for some mailed donations to come in, but I know they are coming so we’ll just consider them donated.

I’m so excited that I accomplished my goal. HOWEVER, since I achieved the goal by midnight on January 31, I’m going to give up red meat until Memorial Day.

This is going to suck.

Then again, yesterday Brian D directed me to this article in the New York Times, which gives examples of how meat consumption is similar to that of the excessive SUV driving that we do in the United States. Consider this:

an estimated 30 percent of the earth’s ice-free land is directly or indirectly involved in livestock production, according to the United Nation’s Food and Agriculture Organization, which also estimates that livestock production generates nearly a fifth of the world’s greenhouse gases — more than transportation. [This figure led a University of Chicago professor of geophysics to calculate] that if Americans were to reduce meat consumption by just 20 percent it would be as if we all switched from a standard sedan — a Camry, say — to the ultra-efficient Prius.

Not only that, but since most cattle are “grown” rather than “raised” (the distinction being that normal cattle graze on grass and industrial cattle are fed grain, which is far more abundant than grass and since cattle aren’t built to digest grain), they have health problems and have to be given antibiotics to stay alive. That’s one thing that I like about Chipotle — their Food with Integrity program which means that they buy only meat that has been raised humanely without antibiotics.

I love red meat. I love cheeseburgers and steaks. But if this means that I’ll be reducing my consumption by 20 percent for the year, so be it.

There are a lot of people who helped me get to the $500 goal:

• Chimpotle was the first one to jump on board and donate.
• My family came through and donated over $200
• KC Bloggers Average Jane, KC Sponge and Meesha all donated.
• Thanks to my friends Laura and Brian D for donating
• Thanks to Tony for mentioning me on 980 and his blog
• Thanks to Alli for all the support and the last-minute donation to get me to my goal

I’ll be purchasing the cow later today and I’ll keep you updated. I will be happy to be out of fund-raising mode and return back to regularly scheduled discussions like last night’s Lost episode and some other randomness.

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Today was a good day for heifer fundraising, but we are still $70 short of our $500 goal. There are less than 7 hours left in this day…if that $70 is raised, I will be giving up red meat for 4 long months.

FOUR MONTHS.

As someone who has been craving a burger for the last 48 hours, there’s definitely a part of me that doesn’t want that last 70 dollars to be raised. The thought of giving up burgers, steak and barbecue for the until Memorial Day isn’t something I am too keen on.

But.

If you make the sacrifice and donate your money, I’ll make the sacrifice and give up red meat. It will suck, but I want to make sure you understand the full level of my commitment. I didn’t want you to give something for nothing. I get the added benefit of better cholesterol levels. You get the benefit of my suffering. Click below to donate.

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The month of my red meat fast is almost over and I’ve raised about $200 of the $500 needed to purchase a dairy cow from Heifer International. Many thanks to those of you who have contributed thus far. I’ve also received another $100-150 in pledges so we’re theoretically over halfway there.

So here’s my end-of-the-month push to close the deal:

If I can raise enough money for the cow before the end of this month (midnight tomorrow night - it has to be deposited into my PayPal account)…

I will remain red-meat-free until Memorial Day.

Believe me when I tell you that this is no small task. I’m really starting to crave a burger and our church’s chili cookoff is in February. To abstain from eating red meat until the end of May is not something I look forward to, but if that’s what it takes to inspire the blogosphere to contribute, I’m willing to do it.

Consider that my gauntlet being thrown down. Click the image below to donate.

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Many thanks to the link and radio mention from Tony this morning.

I thought I’d give a little update on how we’re doing so far on the Buy a Cow project.

We are 30% of the way there!

In the comments, Chimpotle posed the question:

What if you don’t get enough money? Will you get the llama instead?

To answer the question publicly: No. The principle of the project started with a cow and I’m hoping for it to end with a cow. So either I will abstain from eating red meat as long as it takes to raise the money for 1 dairy cow or I’ll find a corporate sponsor or something like that to make up the rest of the money. I want to buy at least one cow. It would be awesome if we can buy more than one. To donate, click below:

Also, if you’d like to put a badge on your blog, go to this post for instructions.

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On the first of January, I posed a challenge to myself and my little corner of the blogosphere. I vowed to stop eating meat for the entire month of January, and in return, I was going to attempt to raise enough money to purchase a dairy cow from Heifer International.

I’m kicking in the first $50 and I’ve received some verbal commitments from a few different people. Many thanks to each of you.

I’m holding up my end of the bargain. It hasn’t been easy, but I’ve steered clear of cheeseburgers, steaks, beef stews…anything with red meat. Even my precious steak burrito bol from Chipotle has become a chicken burrito bol.

I got a suggestion from meesha.v over at Kansas City with the Russian Accent to come up with some banners so people could put them on their sites. Ask and ye shall receive. They aren’t terribly creative, but I’ve got one for black backgrounds and one for white backgrounds.

If you’d like to put either of these banners on your blog, here’s your code to copy and paste:

For the black one:

<a href="http://topfivedesign.com/shane/2008/01/01/red-meat-reduction/" title="Help Shane buy a cow for Heifer International as he steers clear of red meat in January"><img src="http://topfivedesign.com/shane/wp-content/uploads/heifer-banner.gif" alt="Heifer International - Ending Hunger. Caring for the Earth." style="border:none;" /></a>


For the white one:

<a href="http://topfivedesign.com/shane/2008/01/01/red-meat-reduction/" title="Help Shane buy a cow for Heifer International as he steers clear of red meat in January"><img src="http://topfivedesign.com/shane/wp-content/uploads/heifer-banner-white.gif" alt="Heifer International - Ending Hunger. Caring for the Earth." style="border:none;" /></a>


So spread the news around the blogosphere. I’m trying to collect enough to purchase a dairy cow through PayPal, but if you’d like to purchase part of a cow yourself through the Heifer International website, feel free. If you’d like to donate $5, $10…whatever amount, I’m trying to collect smaller donations that Heifer can’t take through their site. To make a donation, click below:

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While I’m a little bummed out that only TWO people commented on my call for donations to purchase a heifer, I’m still going to put my $50 towards the share of one. The benevolent Chimp has done the same. (Many thanks, monkey man.)

On to more pressing things…

Ever since I’ve been considering getting a MacBook, then deciding to wait until after MacWorld, I’ve been in situations where I’ve been wanting to use it. Today is a perfect example.

I’ve got several speaking engagements coming up (tomorrow in Bonner Springs, January 20 in Lee’s Summit, February 17 in Holton, KS) and I would love to be sitting in my living room, typing away on my new MacBook. But alas, I’m limited to the big clunky standard-work-issue Dell. Booooooooo.

Still, I’m anxious to see what Uncle Steve and his army of MacMen come up with on January 15. Even if it is merely a price decrease to the existing line, I’m cool with that. They say patience is a virtue…I guess I’m not very virtuous in that manner.

I’m staying red meat-free (it was tough last night considering I was tempted by an Original Boston Cheesesteak), but I’ll stay that way and continue to take donations toward the purchase of a heifer. Go to this post to read the background and donate.

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Each month this year, Alli and I are going to participate in a “fast” of sorts. Each month, we will give up something we love until the last 5 days of the month with the hope that we’ll start to break some of our bad habits and move towards healthier living.

For January, besides soda, I’m giving up red meat. Those that know me know that I love cheeseburgers maybe more than any other food. Giving up red meat will be an amazingly difficult task for me, but one that I’m looking forward to.

As a show of support for me, I have a proposition to you, my readers:

Buy a cow with me.

Heifer International is one of the world’s leading charitable organizations for meaningful gifts, providing communities around the world with sustainable gifts that help them become self-reliant.

The largest donation on the Heifer International website is a dairy cow.

A good dairy cow can produce four gallons of milk a day - enough for a family to drink and share with neighbors. Milk protein transforms sick, malnourished children into healthy boys and girls. The sale of surplus milk earns money for school fees, medicine, clothing and home improvements.

And because a healthy cow can produce a calf every year, every gift will be passed on and eventually help an entire community move from poverty to self reliance. Now that’s a gift worth giving!

To put my money where my mouth is (or isn’t, I guess), I’m going to put forth the first 10% towards the purchase of a cow. That’s $50 of my own money to start the process. I’m putting a challenge to my readers (and I know you are out there) to come up with the rest. Any money raised will be put toward purchasing animals to help communities around the world. 100%. No less. If you’d like someone to vouch for me to prove I won’t be putting it toward anything else, I am sure someone will do it in the comments.

Click the logo below to donate.

I hope that everyone participates. Even if no one does, I’m planning on putting my $50 towards at least a share of a cow.

Will you join me?

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