Zelman is now an independent filmmaker and media consultant based in Washington D.C. and no longer works for The Dodo, but when the cow project was conceived, she was an executive producer there. The Dodo, known for shortform stories, is dedicated to \u201cpositive, authentic, entertaining stories about animals,\u201d according to its website. It is one of the foremost animal video sites on the web.<\/p>\n
\u201cCow Trip\u201d is not Zelman\u2019s first video about calves for The Dodo, but it is the longest and the first in which she herself is a central character.<\/p>\n
With \u201cCow Trip\u201d the filmmaker wanted to highlight \u201cthe incredible hearts of dairy farmers who want to save these animals.\u201d The animals needed to be brought to a sanctuary so they could escape slaughter. Zelman filmed it on her cellphone, \u201can old Canon\u201d video camera and \u201ca couple of GoPros.\u201d She had a small budget with which to bring on a \u201cfinishing team\u201d to tweak the video.<\/p>\n
Besides the cows \u2014 named Mickey and Moose \u2014 and an unseen driver, Zelman\u2019s companion for the trip is her father, Jared Zelman. In his late 70s, he is a self-described \u201c99% retired\u201d former emergency room \u00a0doctor at Sharon Hospital who was also the medical director of The Hotchkiss School, hosted the \u201cHealth Matters with Dr. Jared Zelman\u201d radio show and podcast and is a longtime member of the Salisbury Volunteer Ambulance Service. Joanna joked that for all his accomplishments and live-saving abilities, Jared Zelman may be most recognized in the Lakeville community for a The Dodo video in which he helps her rescue a skunk.<\/p>\n
![\"Jared](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/THC-L-cow-trip-2.jpg\")
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Cow Trip\/Joanna Zelman LLC<\/p>\n
Jared Zelman makes a pit stop to feed a cow in his daughter Joanna Zelman’s documentary for The Dodo, “Cow Trip.” (Cow Trip\/Joanna Zelman LLC)<\/p>\n
She said her father\u2019s immediate response of \u201cYeah!\u201d when asked if he\u2019ll help transport a cow hundreds of miles at short notice was as genuine and instinctive and it seems on camera. \u201cHe is always approaching everything with curiosity and compassion,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
Jared Zelman, introduced in the video as \u201cburger-loving,\u201d cracks jokes during the trek about stopping for burgers and milkshakes. By the end of the video, he is shown stroking a calf and saying \u201cYou could make me a vegan, you know.\u201d<\/p>\n
Since male cows can\u2019t be milked, male calves are often slaughtered for meat. In \u201cCow Trip,\u201d a worker at a small farm in Vermont decides to save one of them but needs help to get it to a sanctuary 600 miles and several states away. After the Zelmans were recruited for the drive, they learned that there was a second calf in Vermont that could also be saved. That was fine, but when the Zelmans showed up it was clear that Jared Zelman\u2019s Subaru Outback was too small, so a friend with a bigger vehicle was called. Rather than drivers, the Zelmans became passengers.<\/p>\n
\u201cCow Trip\u201d has a bright, optimistic tone. It also simplifies the cow trip somewhat so that details and subplots don\u2019t get in the way of the main message of animal salvation. The trip can be fraught. A cow gets ill. A cow pees. A cow kicks Jared Zelman, who is surprisingly sanguine about the experience. Even asked about it now years later, he said calmly \u201cI was not severely injured. I don\u2019t think I broke a rib.\u201d<\/p>\n
There are some intrinsic Connecticut qualities to the video, though it takes place mostly in other states. When Joanna Zelman first asks her father to join her on the odyssey, he\u2019s on a bike trail ride. She blames the spotty video quality in that snippet on the poor cell phone service in that part of the state.<\/p>\n
![\"A](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/THC-L-cow-trip-3.jpg\")
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Cow Trip\/Joanna Zelman LLC<\/p>\n
A cow is ready for its closeup. Joanna Zelman filming “Cow Trip.” (Cow Trip\/Joanna Zelman LLC)<\/p>\n
The Zelman children \u2014 Joanna and her sister Allison, former chief of staff at the U.S. Department of Labor \u2014 grew up with a lot of pets and also a lot of local artistic inspirations. Their mother, Pamela Chassin, was executive director of the Sharon Playhouse in the 2000s. They attended Salisbury Central High School, where Joanna Zelman said \u201cmy teachers instilled creativity in me.\u201d They knew dairy farmers in the Lakeville area when growing up, so besides the usual household pets as well as Joanna\u2019s \u201cant mansion,\u201d they were around cows and chickens and other livestock. Joanna Zelman put her two nephews in \u201cCow Trip,\u201d meeting the cows in the sanctuary.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe all had a love of animals as a family,\u201d Jared Zelman said, but his filmmaker daughter \u201ctook it to another level. She unites her love of animals with her work and helps others understand.\u201d<\/p>\n
Joanna Zelman had been present at the birth of one of the calves they were saving for a different project at The Dodo. \u201cI got emotional watching Mickey get born,\u201d she said. \u201cI saw him learn to stand, learn to nurse.\u201d \u201cCow Trip\u201d shows Mickey being physically lifted by a farm worker and put in the car. It later shows him fully grown.<\/p>\n
Now that \u201cCow Trip\u201d is completed, Joanna Zelman can continue with other filmmaking projects, include her script for a \u201cclimate comedy.\u201d Her interest in environmental issues is as strong as her interest in animals and one of her previous jobs was as an environmental reporter for the Huffington Post website.<\/p>\n