THE ISCOWP NEWS Volume 8 Issue 3
Meet the Cows
and Oxen
The Minimum Cow Protection Standards are ready for
completion after a year of networking with its main authors. These standards
have been written with the ISKCON society in mind but can be adapted to all
those persons who wish to establish cow protection facilities offering lifetime
protection.
Our new web page is available for viewing at http://www.angelfire.com/co/iscowp.
It is still under construction and we have plans for much more in depth
information to be viewed. It will be an ongoing process of distributing cow
protection information through the Internet.
The cows viewed on this page are part of an Adopt a Cow or
Ox program at Vrajapura Farm. In the top picture, Vraja, who is already adopted,
is happily eating hay from a hay ring, and Subhadra is happily grazing on the
hillside. In this issue, read about their varied personalities.
This issue also brings news of finally locating all of
ISCOWP at Vrajapura Farm. Ending this year, we are happy to refer to these
accomplishments.
Inside This
Issue
Letters
Back to the Land,
Saving Seeds, Straw-bale
Construction,
Minimum Cow
Protection Standards
Meet
the Cows and Oxen at Vrajapura Farm
ISCOWP Update
Wish List
Back to
Back Issues Page
Letters
Back to the Land
An elderly Oriental gentleman made some tours of America and Europe, making
a point to avoid Western clothes and stick to his native dress everywhere. He
criticized our meat based diet and its effect on the land. He spoke to large
crowds about the true purpose of life, reminding them that "man does not
live by bread alone." He saw through the pretensions of advancement and
spoke strongly about the perceptions that the people were actually poor, and
their diet pathetic, and their culture in a condition of degeneration, not
progress. He alluded to the root causes in western philosophy that sees humans'
role as conquering and dominating Nature. I'm referring to the Japanese farmer
and writer Masanobu Fukuoka. His well-known books are One Straw Revolution and
The Road Back to Nature.
The exploitative, adversarial attitude to the land is a key aspect of the
demoniac mentality. Sooner or later, it results in soil depletion and
catastrophic environmental degradation. Depleted soils give only poor quality
foodstuffs, and low quality food results in low quality people. That is our
present astonishing situation - we are lost that we don't even know we are lost.
In America people tolerate the trashed up soil because they have no idea anymore
what good land looks like. Land that has been ruined by scientific, industrial
agriculture and overgrazing of cattle. It is very hard to see and root out our
contamination by the pervasive conventional assumptions about the land and
agriculture. Reading books by Fukuoka, Sir Albert Howard, Bill Mollison et al,
is a necessary corrective, a way out of illusion into truth.
Healing the land and doing only proper agriculture is the critical issue of our
time. We can heal and purify our minds and hearts at the same time. Cultivating
the garden of the heart can dovetail nicely with our attempts to work towards
the perfection of love, harmony, and beauty on the land. But success requires
study and research to clearly identify the problems - the full context of how
destructive improper agriculture has been in world history - so that we can
grasp the solutions. Srila Prabhupada wanted us to be part of the solution, not
part of the problem.
The media today are always pushing the delusion that the
information technology and "virtual reality" are satisfactory
consolation prizes for our accepting massive, irreversible environmental
degradation. They want to hide the fact that there is no human health or
happiness or peace in a place where the forests and soil have been destroyed.
This is the central fact that must be in the forefront of our minds all the
time. Also never forget that there are INHERENT problems with agriculture. Read
Daniel Quinn's books to find out how there was no famine, starvation before
agriculture. And Fukuoka and Quinn both point out that "the moment that
people hearken to the view that first there is man and he produces crops of his
choosing, humanity is transformed into an arrogant lord who commands
nature."
"Primitivists" are a segment of the intelligentsia today: they have a
deep and broad critique of agriculture past and present. Their views are cogent
but there are a few problems. They have no positive, practical agenda, since for
various reasons humans can't go back to the foraging way of life. Also they
don't acknowledge the existence of the few peasant traditions that did farming
in a pious and/or sustainable fashion. E.g. Vedic culture and cow protection.
They correctly fulminate against large-scale agriculture with artificial
irrigation that transforms fertile moist places into desserts through
salinization ... but they have never heard of pious horticulture where people
pray for timely rainfall. Probably Lord Krsna appeared when and where and how he
did, in order to mercifully highlight the proper way people can live on this
planet. A way of life that mitigates the inherent problems and traps of the new
farming way of life. The important features are - everything is offered to the
Lord. Life is centred on God and permeated with spiritual energy. The leaders
take vows of poverty and service. Peace comes from interdependence through
cooperation, not competition. There is very little of the latter, and economic
activities are restricted to one group of the population, for the period of
their lives.
Cows are handled in a certain way that could be described as protection
bordering on worship. Why? I've been surprised at how urban devotees don't
really understand this. If cows are protected and not killed, what does that
mean? It has a basis beyond the sentimental and religious. Cows are the mother
of peaceful brahminical culture because without the all-important manure, the
farmers would have to always be at war, conquering new land, since the old
fields would lose fertility. The taboo on killing also forces restrained
breeding, and therefore avoids overgrazing, which also destroys the land and
puts peace at an end. It was a perfect system whose real goal was to protect the
land.
Prabhupada's goal was to train Brahmans for leadership and service, high calibre
people who could discriminate factors of time and circumstances, and thus orient
their activities. So, we have to be careful where we quote his words about farm
communities in the last years of his life. For example, in the last newsletter
Madhava Gosh quotes Srila Prabhupada as advocating that ISKCON should be a
community "independent from outside help." But that was when ISKCON
was a huge organization that could have been a "parallel subculture".
Now it is a tiny "enclave subculture". There is absolutely no way that
any one farm or ISKCON itself, can be independent/self-sufficient. I really
think, devotees should talk about this and get clear that the goal of devotee
farms are to heal the land, and within the context of improving fertility,
produce food compatible with the primary goal. The secondary goal is improving
food security - and the way to accomplish it is to obey Srila Prabhupada's
guidance that farm life be centered in the local scene. Healing the land AND
promoting food security requires farm devotees to network with the local and
regional progressive people who are doing the same thing. These kinds alliances
and bonds are the way to security. These alliances of local interdependence of
sustainable farms will lessen the risks of failed harvests and confiscation of
plots by local police and bureaucrats. We can't afford the naïveté that thinks
that since our work is righteous we will be tolerated. Any group that can be
perceived as a cult cannot afford this posture of isolationism.
When devotees think and read a lot about the four varnas, I've noticed they
sometimes slide into a fallacy of attributing validity/legitimacy to this
society's law enforcement system, etc. What dangerous fuzzy, thinking! In
general, consciousness of the four varnas has been more harmful than helpful.
I'd like to encourage devotees, especially urban ones, to realize that proper
farming, and making cow protection work, is a critical task today, and one that
only high calibre Brahmans can perform. We can't afford the luxury of division
of labor yet, in our task of restoring the land and society. Proper farming
today, requires a lot of research and many skills. Only Brahmans could do it!
Vandana dasi
Ozark region USA
Back
to index of this issue
Saving Seeds
From: krishna@spnetctg.com
Subject: Seed saving circles
Date: Saturday, November 28. 1998 8:15 PM
Madhava Gosh Prabhuji
You mentioned 'Seed Saving Circles', are there any such
circles among the devotees? Are they preserving these at NV or anywhere else
that you know of. We are leaving a lot of REAL problems trying to keep alive
just 3/4 heritage 'land race' varieties of paddy (out the many hundreds that
have been lost forever).
The government is still 150% behind these hybrids, and have forced all farmers
to use them in order to get loans, which they need because (it's a long.
circular and vicious story). I am very much concerned about the future of these.
The new hybrids concocted by IRRI (International Rice Research Institute)
branches in Bangladesh (heavily funded by the Ford Foundation, World Bank, US
Aid & friends) started off here about 10 years ago with seed names like
IRRI-1, IRRI-2, now we're into IRRI-36, IRRI-28c, etc. When the crunch comes,
and these new hybrids succumb within a year or two to the natural environment,
the whole country will face a famine.
It's of course the same story with all the other essential crops vegetables,
jute, mustard seeds, etc. Of course we wouldn't be able to use any of the
western seed stocks, but I'd be interested to discuss the problem(s) involved
with any devotees involved in this area. As far as I know, there's no such
program in Mayapur. I remember some letters about it in ISCOWP News, but can't
seem to find the appropriate back issue.
Help? Comments?
From: Madhava.Gosh.ACBSP@com.bbt.se
Subject: Re: Seed saving circles
Date: Sunday. November 29. 1998 10:25 AM
There are several groups in the US working on these
problems. Of course their focus is seeds from this environment. If you are
interested, I could contact them to see if they know of groups in climate that
are working with them.
The preservation of heritage breeds and seeds is an area devotees could get into
and get donations and good publicity from in mood of goodness circles.
From: Krishna@spnetctg.com
Subject: Seed saving circles
Date: Monday, November 30. 1998 12:25 AM
DEFINITELY INTERESTED - if you could and it's not too much
hassle. There may be some people around, perhaps in India, who are involved in
heritage seed preservation. It might be invaluable to be in contact with them,
let's see. Who knows, maybe even someone in this forgotten country (Bangladesh)
that I'm unaware of, unlikely as it seems.
Even US or EC-based groups might be of some help to us (if they're
"hands-on" people) as we just need information on how to overcome some
practical problems:- Maximum storage times (how often to replant to replenish
seed stock); Avoiding cross-pollination with adjacent Hybrid & other
varieties; Storage, labelling, record-keeping methods; etc..
I'm not so sure about getting donations or funding from others. It's something
I've always avoided so far, there are far too many NGOs in this country (all too
ready to 'help'). So much funding comes strings attached, and you must
toe-the-line to whatever is the 'in thing' with the international agencies this
season. Although I presume you are speaking of a quite different set of people.
Are there any mode of goodness people with much funds to spare? Of course, time
is of the essence (take or leave the 0000 craze), and with so much yet to do,
devotees may need to get assistance from any available source, within reason.
Certainly there must be at least some devotees involved in this arena in the
States or Europe.
From: Madhava.Gosh.ACBSP@com.bbt.se
Subject: Re: Seed saving circles
Date: Wednesday, December 02, 1998 9:35 AM
IF you don't have internet access, here is one address I
found.
Beauty Without Cruelty
4 Prince of Wales' Drive
Wanowrie
Poona 411 010
India.
Although they may not be directly what you want ( I got it
from an anti McDonalds page), they may be able to point you in the right
direction. I am sending under separate cover another article from that website.
If you have access, here is a great place to start from.
http://csf.colorado.edu/sustainability/seeds.html
From: Pancaratna (das) ACBSP (Mayapur - IN)
Subject: Re: Seed saving circles
Date: Wednesday, December 09, 1998 11:33 PM
Beauty Without Cruelty is a very nice organization, but
they have little money. They focus on lobbying, like PETA and have been
successful. I am a member and get their periodicals. They may be good for
networking.
> It's of course the same story with all the other essential crops
vegetables, jute, mustard seeds, etc. Of course we wouldn't be able to use any
of the western seed stocks, but I'd be interested to discuss the problem(s)
involved with any devotees involved in this area. As far as I know there's no
such program in Mayapur.>
Not yet. But it is on the agenda for our Sustainable
Agriculture project in the Sri Mayapur Vikas Sangha (the NGO we have set up to
do development work in the region of Mayapur - particularly in the villages and
particularly with poor people). Dina Dayal prabhu is working on it. We should
form a partnership. I feel there are many areas we could collaborate on. For
example, we are also putting together a "heritage breeds" revival
project to try to revive the various indigenous pure cow breeds which are dying
out. We have spoken to the program officer of the India section of the Global
Environment Facility. He has encouraged us to submit a grant proposal in their
medium projects category, (up to $1 million) for this as part of their efforts
for bio-diversity protection and enhancement.
We would also build in the seed saving program. We want to tie up with Vandana
Shiva, who is the leader in India in this area. We are also considering tying up
with another NGO that is doing a successful seed exchange program amongst local
farmers.
Do you have an ISKCON independent, nonreligious NGO set up there? If you do (or
could set it up ) we could do some joint projects. Let's discuss this more in
private email (so as not to burden this conference).
From: iscowp iscowp@ovnet.com
Subject: Re: Seed saving circles
Date: Thursday, December 10, 1998 12:16 PM
Dear Nistula prabhu,
We received recently a letter from a disciple of Srila Prabhupada by the name of
Vandana dasi who lives in the Ozark region of America. In her letter was an
article about Vandana Shiva and her work. Your concerns are her concerns as well
and somehow to connect with her would be wonderful. Some resource contacts were
listed in the article.
Dr. Vandana Shiva
Foundation for Science, Technology and Natural Resource Policy
A-60, Hauz Khas
New Delhi 11016
India
Fax (011) 91-11- 6856795
There was no e-mail address listed for them.
Another source listed was
Collective Heritage Institute
826 Camino de Monte Rey
Santa Fe, New Mexico 87501
U.S.A.
e-mail address is: chisf@aol.com
http://www.bioneers.org
Also there is a group in New Mexico who are very active in
research in seed saving and the sale of organic open pollinated seeds by the
Name of SEEDS OF CHANGE. their e-mail address is; gardener@seedsofchange.com
http://www.seedsofchange.com
I also agree with Madhava Gosh about approaching the
"old timers" in the different villages in your specific region who
were the growers of the old varieties of which you are looking for. Spend time
with them and become friends and you will be surprised as to the knowledge and
treasures they will bestow on you and your project. If you receive local seeds
and grow them successfully and make the seed available I'm sure that you will
have no shortage of local support. When all the hybrids are failing for one
reason or another your crops will be thriving due to them being heritage stock
from your local area proven over many, many, generations. When an "old
timer" gives you seed I feel that it is important that after you grow out
that seed and are BLESSED with fresh seed stock that you give him back some of
the fresh seed stock for his personal seed bank.
Also a little note to Pancaratna prabhu, the name of this conference is Cow
Protection and RELATED TOPICS so please don't feel that you will be burdening
the conference with practical information that we will all find of use.
Each area is different unto itself so many seed banks will
need to be established.
Back
to index of this issue
Straw-bale
Construction
From: the black range blackrange@zianet.com
Subject: Re: newsletter- inquiry
Thank you for your inquiry to The Last Straw (TLS) - as
the Managing Editor, I am replying, with the concurrence of our small staff, I
will also copy this to the former publishes of TLS, Judy Knox and Marts Myhrman,
who have the straw-bale construction company called Out On Bale,(Un)Limited.
They are leading educators in straw-bale building and publish the current best
how-to book "Build It With Bales."
>At 06:27 PM 11/20/98 -0700, you wrote:
Dear The Last Straw people,
I read about your informative newsletter in the "ISCOWP NEWS.">
We don't know what this publication is, but would
appreciate getting a copy.
>We are a rural 'ashram' or project in Bangladesh
concerned with self-reliance, and such related environmental & social
issues. We produce much of our own food, shelter (mostly mud), as well as our
own paper (from water hyacinth & rice hay), cold-pressed oil, vegetable
inks, and so on...
We are just recovering from one the greatest floods in living history (and
that's saying a lot in a country that floods regularly, several times a year).
Some of our buildings were damaged, and need rebuilding. Winter fast is
approaching and it's the traditional or preferred time for construction of all
kinds. From what we have read & heard, are particularly interested in
introducing straw-bale construction. It may be an efficient & low-cost
solution to construction here. We have plenty of rice straw that we grow
organically using only oxen.
The principal question may be the rather hot & humid climate here. Of course
without your experience, we'll never really know.>
There IS enough historical and current information to
cautiously recommend straw-bale construction in a hot humid climate. Moisture
being the "enemy," two building strategies seem to be most
appropriate:
#1 - Design to keep the walls from being soaked during
rain events. Usually this means designing wide overhanging roofs or porches.
Back splash from rain failing off the roof is also important to avoid, as is
wetting the bales from water flowing across the ground. Appropriately tall
footings and diverting water around the house site should work fine.
#2 - A "breathable" plaster seems to be very
important in allowing walls to dry out that accidentally do get wet. We advocate
earthen or lime plasters rather than cement-based stuccos, and adamantly oppose
"moisture barriers" (such as Tyvek or roofing felt) which professional
"conventional" builders in the U.S. often use on their wood-frame
homes. Earthen plasters are, of course, much cheaper as well, and it sounds as
if mud is abundantly available to you.
We would certainly be interested in hearing about your experiences if you do
choose to build with bales.
It is often useful (but not essential) to have on-site instruction in building
with bales (especially at the beginning). Judy and Matts of Out On Bale could
certainly provide that, as well as other straw bale builders we know. Let us
know if you wish assistance with that as well.
One final thought - I recently returned from an international conference about
bamboo and became aware that there are significant land-regeneration and
low-cost building projects being accomplished in India. I believe that there are
people working in India utilizing these techniques with bamboo poles as
structure, and mud and straw as infill. Your mud plaster mix, by the way, sounds
very effective and sticky. However, I would recommend a "moisture
barrier" between your brick foundations and what ever wall system you
choose to build on top, as bricks ARE porous and could wick water up into your
wall system.
While I must admit I don't know him personally, perhaps the best person I could
refer you to from the recent Bamboo Congress in Costa Rica is Professor A.G. Rao,
Indian Institute of Technology in Bombay. His e-mail is agrao@idc.litb.ernrt.in
He will certainly know who to talk to about bamboo housing projects.
Also a woman named Ritu Varuni [ph. (30360) 214-949 c/o Aroti Mize Dongi Polo
Vidya Bhawanitalagar, India, expressed a strong interest in traditional bamboo
building and crafts, and seemed to have a lot of information about it. Sorry no
e-mail.
Our best wishes for successful rebuilding!
Best Regards,
Catherine Wanek, Managing Editor
The Last Straw
The Grassroots Journal of Straw Bale & Natural Building
HC66, Box 119
Hillsboro, NM 88042
(505) 895-5400 /fax (505) 895-3326
thelaststraw@zianet.com
http://www.strawhomes.com
From: iscowp iscowp@ovnet.com
Subject: Re: Strawbale housing in Bangladesh
Date: Thursday, December 03, 1998 7:39
Nistula Prabhu writes:
>As it seems machine-bales are the standard, we're left in the dust.>
Good news, you are not left in the dust, you may ask for blueprints from the
following companies that make hand balers:
1) Herrandina, Marte 581, Brena, Lima 5, Peru
2) Carib Agro-industries Ltd., Research Centre, Edgehill, St Thomas, Barbados
3)Jetmaster (PVT) LTD, PO Box 948, Harare, Zimbabwe
Also Balabhadra remembers that Tillers had someone in
Tanzania that was making hand balers.
Tillers address:
5239 South 24th Street
Kalamazoo, MI 49002
Phone 616/344-3233 Fax 616/344 3238
Web page http://www.wmich.edu/tillers
Back
to index of this issue
Meet
the Cows and Oxen at Vrajapura Farm
Every cow is different from every other cow just as every
human is different from any other. The soul within the cow's body gives a unique
individuality. If you spend a little time observing the cows and oxen, you will
notice this and come to realize the cows have a society of their own.
In a herd there are those who are the leaders. In this
case it is Vraja and Gita. They have the biggest bodies and horns, so in the
bovine society they have the power. And of the two, Vraja is the king. The
reason is that Gita is a gentleman, and it is not in his nature nor his topmost
desire to lord it over others. Whereas Vraja takes pleasure in doing just that.
The upside of Vraja's bullying nature is that he considers
the position of leader as filled with responsibilities. If there is any danger
to anyone in the herd, he is ready to fight. He will give a low moan and kick
the dirt under his feet.
A few months ago the neighbor's bull got loose and entered
our pasture. Vraja approached him in his fighting mood. However the bull was not
afraid of him and proceeded to put his head under Vraja's stomach, lift him off
his feet (all 2000 pounds) and throw him. Vraja didn't get hurt, but his pride
was a little hurt and he quietly walked away from the bull.
The cow is a very sociable animal. All the cows will stick
together most of the time. When they are in the pasture chewing on the grass,
sometimes one will loose awareness that the others have moved to another
pasture. All of a sudden the cow will look up and be surprised to find no other
cow or ox. Usually you will hear a lot of mooing, and then once she figures out
where the others went she will start running in that direction. It is quite fun
to watch such a big animal run. They are surprisingly quite agile.
Right in front of our house is a cow path that connects
one pasture with another. The path goes downhill and the cows like to run down
the hill and then walk in front of the house. So we can look out the kitchen
window and see them running and then look out the living room window and see
them walking. Sometimes Gita or Vraja stop walking and there is a traffic jam in
front of our house. Everyone has to wait for them to decide to move, the other
cows would never dare to shove them.
There are subgroups within the major group. For instance,
Jaya and Nanda, a trained team, will often be seen together but a little distant
from the others. The young girls have a tendency to stay with each other.
Separate from the herd, Gita or Vraja can be seen with a girlfriend. They will
stick with that one girl for awhile and then start associating with another girl
for awhile.
It's not that we have a unique herd, all herds have a
society structure. There is always the possibility that when you introduce a new
cow or ox into the herd they will not be accepted. When we moved to Vrajapura
Farm in September we brought Jitendra (adopted by Kamalesh and Arti Shah) and
Partha with us. We were a little concerned that they would get bullied. There
was a little pushing and shoving at first, but they ended up getting along
nicely.
We have 23 cows and oxen at Vrajapura Farm. Vraja and Gita
are ISCOWP's original oxen and came with us from North Carolina, the place of
their birth. Nineteen of the herd are from New Vrindavana's herd.
If you have taken a look at the Minimum Cow Standards in
this issue you will see that there are many problems to avoid when dealing with
a cow protection program. One of them is over breeding with the inaccurate
concept that you can run a cow protection program as you would a commercial
dairy. This happened on many ISKCON farms, New Vrindavana being one. The reason
this doesn't work is because in a cow protection program you do not kill the
young bull calves, unproductive milk cows and the old and infirm as you do in a
commercial dairy program. The killing provides you with a profit margin. When
you provide lifetime protection for such animals there is no profit margin
unless you work the oxen.
We have helped to relieve the overcrowded conditions at
the New Vrndavan barn by providing shelter for 19 cows and oxen. Most of our
oxen are trained to various degrees and can be productive. Your adoption helps
provide for their upkeep. It does not take into consideration barn construction
and upkeep, water maintenance, training, and basically all the ingredients of a
working farm. But it does provide for your adopted cow's general feed and care.
And it helps tremendously in carrying on the goal of establishing cow
protection.
The goal is that the cows and oxen will eventually provide
for themselves by the oxen working the fields and producing vegetables and
grains that we can use for our own consumption (thus lowering the grocery bill )
and the excess we can sell. At this point, as you may know, we are at the
beginning stage of establishing Vrajapura Farm as a cow protection facility, and
so it is a gradual process of putting all the pieces in place to accomplish the
end result of an ideal cow protection facility. But as you can see the cows and
oxen here are enjoying a very nice environment and are happy. Adoptions help us
to provide for their lifetime protection while we build a working farm for them.
Most of our readers are responsible for this present result by supporting us
through the years. We thank you very much, and so do the cows.
Name: Bhima
Age: 3 ½ years old
Breed: Holstein & Simmental
Herd Status: Honest Worker
Nature: Bhima is stoic in nature yet affectionate and a loner. He knows
the voice commands and has hauled firewood.
Name: Ganga
Age: 3 years old in March
Breed: Holstein
Herd Status: Princess
Nature: Ganga is very affectionate, but at the same time she can be very
pushy with the other cows. Strong willed, she knows what she wants and how to
get it when it comes to eating. She is curious and therefore has been found
numerous times on the other side of the fence enjoying herself, always with a
smile on her face.
Name: Gaurangi
Age: 3 ½ years old
Breed: Holstein
Herd Status: Honest cow
Nature: From birth she has been shy, but she definitely likes to receive
her share of affection (pats and rubs) on her head, throat, back and chest.
Name: Virenda
Age: 2 years old
Breed: Jersey Holstein
Herd Status: Mid Management
Nature: Thrifty, protective, loner, intelligent, very loving. He is
already adopted by Kamalesh & Arti Shah
Name: Bhumi
Age: 3 1/2 years old
Breed: Holstein
Herd Status: Princess
Nature: She is very pretty with a distinctive white band on her left side
and different colored eyelashes on each eye. One eye has white eyelashes and the
other eye has black eyelashes. She also has dainty upturned horns and knows how
to use them if she is displeased. Whenever Ganga is found on the other side of
the fence, Bhumi can be found also, a partner in crime. She is capable of being
a rascal, but most of the time she is loving and affectionate. She is trained to
voice commands.
Name: Agni
Age: 3 years old in March
Breed: Limousin & Holstein
Herd Status: Honest worker
Nature: Sweet, intelligent, honest worker who pays attention during work
and extremely handsome. He is a beautiful red color characteristic of the
Limousine breed. Trained to basic voice commands, Agni is part of the team Agni
and Shyam who are used for basic training for new teamsters.
Name: Kalki
Age: 3 1/2 years old
Breed: Simmental & Holstein
Herd Status: Honest cow
Nature: She can be very affectionate, but can also be quite guarded with
her affection. She had a brush with death two summers ago but is now doing very
well. She is built like a tank and has on many occasions protected smaller cows
from bullies in the herd.
Name: Jaya and Nanda
Age: 4
Breed: Simmental and Holstein
Herd Status: Of the big animals they are at the bottom because of their
gentlemanly demeanor. They are a handsome trained team who have hauled firewood.
Jaya is mostly white with light brown spots, Nanda is mostly medium brown with
white spots.
Name: Vishaka
Age: 3 1/2 years old in April
Breed: Holstein
Herd Status: Upper level management
Nature: Extremely shy as a young calf and not until she was 6 months old
did she become comfortable with people. She is partially trained to voice
commands and now you can walk up to her and give her a big hug. She is
intelligent, likes hanging out with the big guys, and will stand her ground if
picked on. With an extremely white face, on each eye it looks like she is
wearing black eye shadow.
Name: Padma
Age: 3 years old at the end of October
Breed: Pure Holstein
Herd Status: Senior man
Nature: He was abandoned at birth by his mother and since the second day
of his life he has been handled, treated and trained with a lot of love. Very
intelligent and humble yet he will stand his guard when need be. In addition he
is very handsome with beautiful horns, fully trained and experienced in the
woods.
Name: Ganda
Age: 3 years old at the end of October
Breed: Pure Holstein
Herd Status: Senior man
Nature: He is very honorable and honest, a hard worker, handsome and not
afraid to stand up to the big guys. Padma and Ganda (Ganda also fully trained
and experienced in the woods) are a hard working team.
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ISCOWP
Update
Barn Improvements
One of the cows' barn entrances is now mud free due to installing
a drainage system. Manure has been removed, some of it having been there for 15
years.
The barn floor has been completed and more work, has been
done in the barn. Due to improper water drainage, a muddy situation for the cows
was created which often left the cows knee deep in mud when attempting to enter
the barn. A drainage pipe was placed into the ground and cement was poured in
the area. Now the rain water leaves the area and drains into the open field and
any muddy situation is additionally prevented because of the concrete. This cost
$2885. In the same area of the barn all the manure that had collected for 15
years was removed revealing the cement floor.
New feed aisle to facilitate clean and thrifty use of hay.
Another improvement has been in the barn's feed aisle.
Along the feed aisle, individual slots were created where the cows could put
their heads through a wooden partition and eat the hay in the aisle. Now the
cows feed with less pushing and shoving, and they are unable to pull any of the
feed out of the aisle and onto the barn floor. Therefore we should now be
getting far less waste with our feed.
In the last newsletter we mentioned that we were building
the floor to facilitate storing small square bales which could be placed in the
feeding aisle by just about anyone since they are not so heavy. The square bales
are now being used in the feeding aisle and working quite well. We still have
purchased big bales as we did not have the floor done in time to store enough
square bales.
Hay rings separate the large bales of hay from the cows' manure.
Balabhadra, Baladeva and Ray have installed doors on the barn
which will protect the cows from the winter winds.
Another improvement has been to install doors on the front
of the barn. This will help to protect the cows against the wind in the winter.
These doors slide across the front of the barn on a runner.
The roof at the front of the barn has been patched with
new tin and the wooden rafters trimmed. The finishing touch will be to paint the
barn and the roof which will beautify the entire barn and atmosphere. The paint
has already been bought, but painting can not be done till after winter.
Balabhadra fixing the front barn roof with new tin.
Ox Power Herb Company Campaign
Our small garden produced delicious tomatoes and peppers. We
canned tomatoes and tomatoe chutney, which also contained the peppers. We expect
to do more in the garden next year, since we will be living right here.
The campaign ends this December. looks like we have
collected approximately $27,000. We will let you know in detail in the next
issue that will contain ISCOWP's annual report.
As you can see by reading this update a lot of energy, has
been put into fixing up the barn for increased working efficiency and comfort of
the cows. Much of the work we didn't foresee as necessary until we used the barn
for about a year and could see the problems with it which could not be ignored.
This has slowed us down a bit with the Ox- power Herb Company development.
However the next stages of its development can only be
done in the Spring, i.e. planting the garden and putting in the cement floor for
the herb processing building. This winter we will be working on removing the
rose bushes from the garden site.
Our New Home
We are very happy to be in our new home. The move, of course, was strenuous
and time consuming. Please recall that this is the basement to one and a half
straw-bale stories yet to be built. The outside of the house is not finished
because we will be using stucco and it is best to finish the entire house at
once. The roof is temporary, since it must be removed to build the next stories.
The front of our basement home looking out over the pasture
We are finding that the building is extremely well
insulated since it is built into the hill and is made of one solid wall of
concrete. The front windows, south facing, let in much sunlight and heat which
warms the house. Actually the basement can be considered a modified Earth
Shelter. The difference is that the roof does not have sky lights which would
allow more sunlight in the back rooms where the windows are small due to the
back being placed into the hillside.
Inside view of the house from the front door. It is cement, but
has a smooth textured feel and look. The local contractor who poured it said he
would get it as smooth as glass. We had no idea it would turn out so nice.
Surprisingly it is not cold. We have waxed it and now is shines and is non
porous.
We are totally amazed at the retention of heat. This
winter has been warm so far but we are still burning less wood than anyone else
we know. Everyone is amazed at how warm it is when they enter the house and
surprised to hear that we have not made a fire that day. We expect that in the
summer it will be cool without fans or air conditioners. We'll definitely let
you know.
Balabhadra and Baladeva sitting at the kitchen table where one
can view the hillsides
The basement consists of a small kitchen and living room
(which access the large front windows), laundry room, bathroom, three bedrooms,
and a utility room. It is 30 ft by 40 ft. The view from the front windows is
very beautiful: we can see the sunrise over the hills and the cows grazing.
ISCOWP Newsletter
In the last year, the newsletter has evolved to 16 pages an issue and 3
issues a year. For several years we had 12 pages and 4 issues a year. The first
issue was 6 pages. More in-depth information from other cow protectors has been
coming our way and the more recent format has been more workable for our office
and newsletter staff of one (Chayadevi). We hope this meets with your approval.
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Wish
List
Ondura Roofing $1000
(Refurbishing building next to the barn)
Plane Ticket to Europe $1500
(Balabhadra visiting ISKCON Farms for Ministry development)
Color Printer $300
(Printing of greeting cards, calendars, picture letters)
Seed Storage Containers $200
(Seeds, roots, bulbs to start seed bank for Ox Power Herb Company)
Office Chair $450
(Ergonomic health chair)
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