The Mad Cowboy Is Born

Howard Fenn Lyman was born September 17, 1938, in Great Falls, Montana, and spent two decades running a family operation that raised dairy cows, hogs, chickens, and beef cattle. A spinal tumor diagnosis in 1979 pushed him toward organic farming, and within a decade he had given up meat and dairy entirely, becoming a vegan and an animal-welfare advocate. On the April 1996 Oprah Winfrey Show, Lyman told Oprah that grinding up dead cattle and feeding the remains back to other cattle had turned herbivores into cannibals, and warned that mad cow disease could reach the United States. Oprah said the segment had stopped her cold from eating another burger, and Texas cattlemen sued them both for more than $10 million under the state's new 'veggie libel' law. A federal jury in Amarillo ruled unanimously for Winfrey and Lyman on February 26, 1998.