Howard Lyman, Story of a Cattle Rancher Turned Vegan

Howard Lyman is a fourth-generation family farmer in Montana who started out with a small organic family farm that he transitioned to a “modern corporate chemical farm” with over one thousand range cows, seven thousand head of cattle in a factory feedlot, thousands of acres of crops, and as many as thirty employees. He says of the transition to a modern industrial farm and to agribusiness, “I saw the organic soil go from a living, productive base to a sterile, chemical-saturated, mono-cultural ground produced by my so-called modern methods using herbicides, insecticides and chemical fertilizers.”

Running an industrial factory farm nearly killed him. When he discovered he had a tumor on his spine, and had a one-in-a-million chance of its surgical removal and survival, he had an awakening.

Lyman is now a vegan. He no longer raises animals for food. After selling his cattle ranch, he lost 130 pounds, and awakened to a more conscious way of living. He completely and radically changed his way of life and his farm. Happily, he is now an organic farmer, “I saw the birds die, the trees die, and the soil die (using herbicides, insecticides, fertilizers and chemicals in today’s agribusiness). I had become the problem not the solution. I decided that I would get my farm back to what it once was — living birds, living trees and living soil. We need to farm with nature.”

He transitioned to a vegan diet when he saw that his health was in jeopardy. “I was well over 300 pounds, my cholesterol was over 300, my blood pressure was sky-high and when I sat down at the table my nose would bleed. I knew I was in trouble. So I became a vegetarian, and my blood pressure went down slightly, my cholesterol slightly, and I lost weight. But it was when I became a vegan, that I lost 130 pounds, my blood pressure went from sky-high to normal, and my cholesterol from over 300 to 136.” He said he found a much bigger change in the way he felt when he went from vegetarian to vegan than when he went from carnivore to vegetarian. Lyman’s wife also became a vegan. Lyman is now a proud national spokesman for a plant-based vegan diet and a vegan lifestyle, and is a renowned public speaker and author, and a strong animal advocate.

Mad Cowboy Documentary (You Tube)

Lyman says of making his documentary film, “I had no idea what we were getting into. The film is three years in the making, we took 150 hours of footage, did countless interviews throughout the world with activists, scientists, victims, ranchers, farmers, doctors, and consumers, and opinions on every side of the issues.” The movie is his personal story, a story of complete transformation, a new life and a new way of thinking and feeling.

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To order the documentary DVD and books by Howard Lyman, see MadCowboy.com.

Howard Lyman Lectures

“No one here has eaten more meat than I have, no one here has eaten more ice cream, no one here has raised more cattle. If I could come from that background and become a hardcore vegan—eating nothing with a face, a liver or a mother—is there any reason to believe that we can’t turn the world around?” (excerpt from Mad Cowboy lecture)

Mad Cowboy Lecture (2007), Part 1 of 2
Mad Cowboy Lecture (2007), Part 2 of 2
Howard Lyman: Plain Truth from the Cattle Rancher Who Won’t Eat Meat, Talk 2010

To order the full set of lectures, see MadCowboy.com.

About Howard Lyman

About Howard Lyman

Howard Lyman’s Background

Mad Cowboy Official Website

Mad Cowboy Interactive Website Map

Film Credits

Director: Michael Tobias

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