"... dairy cows!" Jennifer Ann was somewhat relieved to hear this. Apprehension had spread between the convicts that they would be turned to meat animals in order to serve the young people entering the programme from the dread of slaughter. But milk cow sounded ok. She would be eating plenty of food, sire a calf now and then and be milked every day. However, there was no further information on what was going to happen. All they noticed was that they were hardly allowed to leave their cells for the following days and an increasing number of women was stuffed into the cells, while apparently whole blocks of the prison were emptied. Jennifer Ann correctly guessed that these were transformed into cow sheds in the meantime. long rows of troughs were installed, slatted floor was laid and feed and water tanks installed. Finally, a milking parlour was installed to milk the cows twice a day. The inmates were, however, not informed. It was a deliberate decision to pass on as little information as possible. There was a risk the women might rebel if they new what being a milk cow entailed. They would be artificially impregnated to keep the milk flowing constantly. They would not seed green pastures but high energy food inside a muddy sty and once they lost their productivity they would be handed over to a slaughterhouse nearby and do a last round as hamburger patties. Ultimately, this law was designed to eliviate the financial burden on the state, not to help prisoners lead a more comfortable life.
A few days later a warden came round, collecting women after women from their cells. Jennifer Ann had learned one thing during her five years doing time: Obey! So she followed the warden without asking any questions. She was made to undress and led into their assembly hall. It was normally used for speeches or rare social occasions such as prison concerts. Now it was full of women. Most were around the same age as Jennifer Ann, around twenty to fourty. There were all types of women, from small to tall, from fat to slim. Suddenly, they felt some kind of fog emerge from strange blue boxes at the end of the room. They contained an aerosol, similar to that used for biological weapons. This one, however, contained genetically modified bacteria. These would slip cow DNA into their cells with the result that they would keep their human memory but look like a cow in every aspect. Soon, the effects settled in. Jennifer Ann could see faces sstretching out into muzzles, legs and arms equating in length while changing to the bony structure of cattle legs, skin acquiring the patchy blotches of Holstein black and white, tails popping out and, above everything loud farting and mooing as the inner organs adjusted to the four-stomach system of a cow. Her own changes were painful but quick. Most exciting was to feel her hip readjust and standing up on four legs.
And then it was over. The hall was filled with a herd of black-and white Holsteins, mooing and bellowing in confusion. Their familiar wards came in, now dressed in farm clothing. They had been given courses to prepare for new jobs on the farm. In the future, a few of them would remain in charge to look after new or short-time inmates (which themselves would be used as aids on the farm) while the rest would work on the farm. And as long as crime rates remained what they were, the supply would not stop. Now, they led the cows, one by one and four at a time, into small boxes. Here, they received a vaccine, and their earmarks while a second warden used hot tongs to cout off their horns - a painful but necessary security measure. Finally, a prison mark was freeze-branded onto their rump so they could never run away successfully. Once Jennifer Ann had also gone through this procedure she was lead into the new cow shed and tried to settle in, somewhat disappointed by this cold concrete world.