Religion

Cattle in India are plentiful, but instead of being confined on farms or
in production facilities, are freely roaming streets.

Although America participates in mass production and slaughter of cows for their meat and dairy products, the adherents to the religion of Hinduism do no such thing. Similarly, they commonly deal with a mass amount of cows on a daily basis, but these cows reside on the streets alongside fellow inhabitants of India rather than a production facility or farm. To millions of Hindu's, the cow is revered as a holy animal that should not, and can not be harmed to necessitate human needs. Since the faith first evolved 3,000 years ago, it is believed that there was some early meat consumption, however progressed to see the cow as a "sacred animal to be esteemed, and not eaten". There are many references in reverence to cows within the religion's major texts and can be traced back to the Lord Krishna which is often referred to as "bala-gopala" or "the child who protects cows". Yet another holy name for Lord Krishna is "Govinda" meaning "one who brings satisfaction to the cows". Several other references are made, but the most notable scripture refers to the cow as the "mother" of all civilization where her milk is the main nurturing factor to our growing populations.

Lord Krishna, as depicted here with a sacred cow, was worshipped as the protector
of cows and the one who brought satisfaction to the cows.

A majority of rural Indian families to this day have at least one dairy cow to supply them with essential products such as milk, curds, ghee butter, and even urine and dung. Although these products are very commonly used as a source of nourishment, cow dung is  commonly used as a major source of natural energy for households throughout India. Collectively, these products are also used in puja (worship) as well as in rites of extreme penance. In addition Gopastami, or the Cow Holiday, is a day where cows are taken to a temple, washed and decorated, and praised. On this day, offerings are made to the cow and celebrations are centered around them. Even the dung of cows on this sacred day is used to draw a line or lines on a man's forehead and a bindi dot on women, and in both forms are referred to as a "tilak". Tilak however, is used in conjunction with many other days such as special weddings or religious rituals. 

This cow is dressed up on the day of Gopastami in bright colors and expensive cloths.
On this day, celebrations are plentiful and surround the cattle.

Within Hinduism, the cow is not only a precious resource, but treated as part of the family. Given great amounts of respect, cattle in India continue their lives unharmed by individuals. In fact, hitting or killing a cow is a sentence of 6 months in jail, which some would agree is heftier than the 5,000 rupees mandatory pay in the instance of killing a person. 

"Sacred Cows in India"

Sources: 

http://www.religionfacts.com/hinduism/things/cow.htm
http://www.pbs.org/wnet/nature/holycow/hinduism.html
http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?p=2523437

http://www.ehow.com/info_8510464_cows-hindu-religion.html
http://www.religionfacts.com/hinduism/things/tilak.htm