In total disregard for internationally accepted understandings, one group of BD practitioners in New Zealand have promoted a belief that cowhorns act as antenna. Even though publication to the contrary have appeared in the official BD media, this belief continues to be expressed.

They have followed the teachings of a past national BD advisor, who believed(s) that cowhorns act as antenna, attracting the forces ( World Etheric and World Astral forces ) used in the manure for preparation 500, from the front of the cow. Directing these forces straight into the digestion of the cow and so into the manure? This rational goes on to interpret sections in the Agriculture course, to develop the picture of a polarity between the cow drawing forces in through the horns, while deer radiate opposite forces out through the Antlers in an opposite direction.

This is a unique concept amongst these BD commentators, as most other sources state that: it is the forces from the back of the cow ( Moon, metabolic, salt, fixed pole of the animal ) moving forwards, which are ultimately condensed and rayed back from the horn, into the digestion. These are the forces which make the manure so enlivened, it stands apart from other manures when it comes to fertility.

Before this groups belief can be taken seriously however, there are two paragraphs in the fourth lecture, a large part of the second lecture of "Agriculture" and several statements by other BD writers that still need to be explained away, before this antenna theory can be taken at all seriously.

The following quotes must be argued against-

The first paragraph is on p72 (2) where RS outlines what a cow would look like if it had forces coming in and forces going out. " It would be very irregular; a lumpy organism - an ungainly creature.... They would be lumpy, with tiny appendages for feet, as indeed they are in the early embryonic stages. They would remain so:- They would look quite grotesque. " In the next paragraph he goes on to say " But a cow is not like this " Where horns and hooves occur a locality is formed that sends the currents (* 1938 edition p 41 Organic formative forces ) inward with more than usual intensity. In this locality the outer is strongly shut off; there is no communication through a permeable skin or hair. The openings which otherwise allow the currents to pass outwards are completely closed.. .." On page 73 " Thus in the horn you have something well adapted by its inherent nature to ray back the living and astral properties into the inner life."
B Lievegoed on Page 33 of his Agricultural work (1) he says " the horn is a densification, a thickening of the uppermost layer of the skin. In the horn of the skin, the Primary Moon forces come to rest. The regenerative (primary) Moon forces radiate from within outwards as far as the horn mirror of the skin, where they are reflected and transformed into the secondary Moon forces."

The antlers, which are bone and not harden skin, RS suggests, do allow these same organic formative forces to escape ' a certain distance'. The horns reflects these forces back to the digestion. This is where the stag gains his almost intuitive sensitivities. The outward moving feminine forces extend like antenna.

Which forces are we talking about?

In the last paragraph of p 72 RS calls them the" astral ethereal formative forces" In the 1938 edition on p 41 he say 'organic formative forces' (*currents) are reflected inwards.

Where do these forces come from?

On page 34 (1) Lievegoed points out that in the second lecture (2)" RS speaks of the planetary effects upon the animal embryo, into which stream from the front via the mouth, direct Sun forces, ( aided by the outer planetary forces ).... He goes on to say these Sun forces reach as far as the heart in the adult animal.

" from the behind via the anus Sun forces reflected by the moon " He goes on to say " From behind, the Moon forces (reflecting ) are supported by Mercury and Venus. We must look therefore in the digestive tract for the workings of the planets nearer than the Sun". ...

These inner planetary forces carry the fertility impulses of the metabolic system in the animal, showing in the plant as germination and sap flow. The Sun - outer planet forces , coming from the front of the cow are more forming in nature relating to the development and support of the nerve sense system. ( In Plants the silica pole, creates the nutritive quality and oil and seed formation. All hardening processes. )

Later on the same page.... " There exists a connection between these digestive forces and the skin, which we can now understand. It is rather remarkable that in the horned cattle precisely those points where the forces from within want to radiate outwards are covered with a horn cap. Thus it happens that the forces which work from within ( Near planets ) are first led towards these formations reaching out from the body ( Horns and Hooves) but are reflected inwards. This near planetary force is thus enhanced in its potency during digestion."

" The horn reflects the near planetary forces from the digestive tract back into the manure", thus enlivening it with intensified fertility forces.

Therefore these "organic formative forces" began by streaming from the near planets ( through the world ether and world astral ) into the digestion, through the rear end of the cow. They work through the digestion, - creating and sustaining its function - to become organic formative forces ( not world formative forces), radiating onto the horns and hooves, whereby they are sent back to the digestion and then to the manure. See Diagram 76a . This makes it the super charges etheric and Astral bundle that it is.

This is how leading exponents of Bio-Dynamics including Steiner have presented the understanding of 500s activity. Other authors support this perspective. Another reference is on page 144, Culture and Horticulture.

Eugen Kolisko in " ZOOLOGY FOR EVERYBODY 3 - Mammals" says

"In ruminants, the digestion is very intensive, not only in the metabolic system, but already in the upper part of the organism. These animals are exclusively vegetarians. Their legs are straight, and they have hooves; ruminants have two hooves; they are cloven-hoofed."

"The cow needs to eat an enormous amount of food every day; because of the great quantity of food, the intestines are very long. The activity of the senses is subdued. The eye is not alert; the gaze of the cow is directed more to the inside; the animal is quiet, phlegmatic, because it is so heavily burdened with the metabolism of its body."

"Then horns are produced, a rather peculiar process. The consequence for the animal is that it is less open to outside forces. The metabolism is reflected back into the organism, through the horn formation. Animals with horns have a dulled-down senseactivity. Their nervous activity is subdued because the stream of metabolism is reflected back into their inner organism. They produce horns on their heads and hooves on their feet, and thus concentrate the forces of their metabolism into the interior. The horn and the hoof, on the periphery of the body, act as reflectors, directing the metabolism back into the interior. Therefore the cow is not very sensitive to the outside. It is wrong to imagine that an animal is limited within the boundary of the skin. The sensitivity of many animals reaches much further than that of the cow, and other horned animals. Cats, for example, notice through their whiskers when something is happening in their surroundings. Animals show a similar phenomenon to that found in certain mediums. If we prick with a needle into the air surrounding a sensitive medium, we produce a sensation of pain in the medium whose sensitivity radiates into the periphery. The body is asleep, but the medium is sensitive in the area around the body, and will cry out in pain, if we move about with a needle. The sphere of sensitivity has been dislocated from the body into the periphery. This phenomenon is more obvious, in certain small animals, than it is in mediums. But we do not find it in the cow; there the sensitivity has withdrawn into the interior, into the metabolism. The cow digests with enormous sensitivity; its whole interest is centred within its organism. With the same intensity, with which other animals occupy themselves in the outside world, the cow devotes itself to its inner life processes. Its whole interest is centred upon its inner organism. The horned animals are unresponsive to occurrences around them, thus strengthening their metabolism."

1 The working of the planets and the life processes in Man and Earth. B. Lievegoed 1951.
2. Agriculture. Rudolf Steiner.