The notion of “invisible cows” has become popular in Finnish dairy
production. This concept emerges in a very specific historical context:
Increasing herd size, changing technological infrastructure in cowsheds,
and the transformation of farmer identities all contribute to a need
for more intensified forms of collaborative practices between humans and
animals. An invisible cow is healthy, corporally compliant, obedient,
easy and collaborative both in its body and behaviour. Invisible cows
form a uniform herd in which individual animals require minimal care
from farmers. In this paper, we explore how this new ideal is manifested
on dairy farms, and how it changes the agencies of both farmers and
animals and affects human-animal relationships. We examine the notions
of collaboration, resistance and human-animal affection and aim to build
links between these concepts. Our discussion of everyday work on dairy
farms reveals the unattainability of invisibility. In various ways
cattle resist their enactment as see-through members of the herd.
Furthermore, invisibility can also be resisted by farmers who embrace
their relations with specific animals who fail to stay invisible. Our
paper contributes to a more complex understanding of the intertwinement
of human and animal agency
within dairy husbandry and argues that collaborative and resistant practices are always entangled.