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THE ISCOWP NEWS Volume 12 Issue 2 2002 The Cow is the Mother and the Bull the Father of the Human Being. SB 3.2.29
Establishing Cow Protection Programs Worldwide The requirements for establishing a viable cow protection program vary greatly in respect to geographic location. Climate, soil conditions and the social structure of the people living in each geographic location need to be considered. However, there are general principles that apply regardless of geographic considerations. This issue begins a series of discussions on establishing a program in a warm region of the USA. The discussion covers topics important to establishing a program anywhere. Understandably there are benefits to establishing a cow protection program in a warm climate. One reason is that the cows can graze all year round, and their feed for the winter does not have to be grown and harvested in a few summer months. The Mysore farm shows the possibilities for cow protection in a warm climate. Although the challenges are greater in a cold climate, success is possible. The Hungarian farm is a nice example of a cow protection program in a cold climate.
Letters: Establishing a Viable Cow Protection Program The Hare Krsna Farm in Mysore, India New Vraja-dhama Farm in Hungary
Letters Establishing a Viable Cow Protection Program Dear Readers, The following is a reprint of a discussion on the Cow conference concerning the forming of a viable plan for the beginning of a cow protection program in Alachua, Florida, USA. This discussion presents many detailed considerations for establishing such a program. Since the discussion is quite lengthy, it will be continued in future issues. The knowledge presented is quite valuable for anyone considering establishing such a program. The discussion is geared for establishing a cow program in a warm climate but much of the details are universal. Yrs, From: Pancaratna ACBSP <Pancaratna.ACBSP@pamho.net>
From: Pancaratna ACBSP <Pancaratna.ACBSP@pamho.net>
From: Noma T. Petroff <npetroff@bowdoin.edu>
From: <iscowp@earthlink.net>
From: Pancaratna ACBSP <Pancaratna.ACBSP@pamho.net>
From: Syamasundara (das) (Bhaktivedanta Manor - UK) <Syamasundara@pamho.net>
From: markjon chatburn <protection_farms@yahoo.com>
From: Mark Middle Mountain <gourdmad@ovnet.com>
From: Syamasundara (das) (Bhaktivedanta Manor - UK) <Syamasundara@pamho.net>
Garden The weather in the beginning of the summer was very rainy and cool which delayed the garden growth. About mid-summer the weather became very hot and humid. This was great for the garden. Everything grew super fast although harvest was late in comparison to past years. Then in the later part of the summer there was little rain, practically a drought. As a result the garden began to die.
From what we hear on the TV news it appears to be an unfortunate time for agriculture in the USA due to the severe and unusual weather. At the writing of this newsletter the earth is parched due to insufficient rain. Our tomato plants that looked so promising have begun to die ultimately producing little fruit. However, there still is plenty of food in the garden and we haven’t bought any vegetables in months. We are also drying and canning what we can of a variety of vegetables for the winter. This year we have 3 drying machines and we just bought a vacuum sealer for bagging the dried food. This way the dried foodstuffs will last much longer as do the canned foods. The broccoli, cabbage, brussels sprouts, bitter melon, beans, potatoes, hot peppers, and zucchini have done well despite the weather conditions. So it appears that we will have enough to get us through the winter.
Instead of canning individual vegetables, we are doing some canning of vegetables dishes. So, when you open the jar you have a ready-made veggie. Of course all the ingredients are from the garden. We picked the wild berries, that were very numerous this year, to make jam. The apples look quite numerous and we are hoping for a good harvest for applesauce and dried apples.
The Herd While the weather in mid summer was good for the garden, it was uncomfortable for us humans and the cows were found staying much longer in the barn where they had sufficient shade. Due to the position of the barn on the edge of a hill there is often a breeze flowing through the barn when the doors are open. We thank you very much for your help in building the barn that gives the cows relief in the summer as well as in the winter. The weather cooled, but as elsewhere, there has been little rain. The pastures are very dry, nearly burnt. We had to switch the cows to the other side of the farm earlier than anticipated because they were beginning to moo a lot. That is usually the message that something is wrong or grazing food is gone. In this case they had eaten most of the grasses on that side of the farm. As of this writing we have not heard any mooing since. The cows look quite happy and busy eating grass. But the pastures are very dry unless we get some rain soon. We have bought hay already and have some accessible for them in the barn. As things are going we might be entirely feeding hay sooner than later. Education We are presently writing a course to be first taught in Mayapur at their institute next March. Suresvara and Balabhadra will teach the course. Suresvara is an ISCOWP board of director and wrote a farm column for the BTG many years ago. I (Chayadevi) attended the ISKCON Ministry meetings in Alachua this past June where the development of a cow protection course curriculum was discussed. It was agreed that a course that gave a general understanding of cow protection would help raise the awareness of the importance of cow protection. The idea is to write the course so that it can be adapted for non-devotees also and can be taught by others besides Balabhadra. The long-term view is to have a general course/seminar to be taught as widely as possible and a more practical hands-on training course to be taught at Vrajapura Farm. This becomes more possible when the facilities for a sufficient cow protection facility are in place in order to show how things should be done and set up. Web Page The last newsletter that you received is now available in color on the ISCOWP web site www.iscowp.com. Gary Curtin, the creator of the ISCOWP web page, has once again volunteered to work on the web page. We are slowly updating the page and Gary Curtin wants to do some redesigning, so stay tuned. Fencing About 1,600 feet of fence was down or in disrepair on one side of the farm. Since the terrain was hilly and wooded all the work had to be done by hand. Since the fence line was shared with a neighbor, we were allowed to take locust wood from the neighbor’s property to make fence posts. The wood was hauled and cut into posts by hand. The holes for the posts were dug by hand and filled by hand. Balabhadra did most of the work, Lakshmi helped, and we hired helpers for part of job. We still have about 3000 - 4000 ft of fence line to complete. But the worst part of the fencing is fixed and we were able to move the cows to this side of the farm to allow the pasture on the other side a rest and time to replenish. Firewood During the last few months Balabhadra has been hauling wood out of the forest for our own fire wood needs and to sell. There are so many fallen trees in the forest, a real natural resource. He uses the money he gets from selling the firewood to pay off the mortgage on the property. However, hauling the wood involves a lot of physical work. Due to this work, Balabhadra’s back went out and he has been forced to rest for about 2 weeks. It will probably be another week before he can begin to work outside again.
This Year’s Campaign To finish the barn project the old barn roof must be painted to retard the rusting and prevent further rusting. It also will look a lot better. Installing the barn gutter is necessary to fully prevent mud buildup and erosion around the barn. A few years back we collected to construct a building to process the herbs and garden produce. At that time we had not yet built the second house that we now live in. This house is large enough to process the harvest as well as store it. The amount we collected went into building the root cellar and area for processing attached to this house, and the excavation of the original site for the building to process the produce. That site is where we want to put a building for storage of hay and equipment. We are able to store some hay in the barn but most of it is out in the weather. It is on the entry lawns and therefore these cannot be landscaped and kept nicely. Being out in the weather means that we lose a certain amount of hay each year. Also all the ox power equipment is lying outside and rusting. The contractor who excavated the area had originally told us that we had to wait a few years for the earth to settle before building. The time has past to securely build a pole barn construction. We will need the contractor’s services to widen the area by removing the old washhouse that stands there. Of course more details follow in the financial breakdown. The way the campaign is set up this time is that it goes from 7/02 to 7/03. If we collect enough for the smaller projects such as the painting of the old barn roof by this fall we can complete them this fall. Or as much as we can collect by fall and proceed with we will. Then we have the following spring and summer to finish the projects. At present we have received $6000 and a pledges for $7000. Leaving $9, 974.40 left to collect. We have begun to paint the barn roof, bought the gutters and water sealed the new barn’s outer walls. We are very thankful to all ISCOWP members for helping us build a nice facility for 25 cows by contributing to the building of the water system for the cows, refurbishing the old barn, building the new barn (the two barns are now connected), extensive fencing, and now the storage building for the hay and equipment. One can see that it takes a lot to set up an efficient facility for protecting cows. But once the construction phase is over and everything is paid for, then life becomes much more simple and more time can be spent on cow protection activities and teaching cow protection. By the way, we have now various monthly gifts for anyone who gives $300 or more a year. This can be done in one donation or monthly donations. For instance, there are dried tomatoes and vegetables, and canned tomato chutney, jam or applesauce, or canned veggie ready to offer. As soon as we harvest the wild apples we will have dried apples. Please let us know what you prefer or is a variety best? And every donation receives a gift from ISCOWP, usually of the type mentioned above. If you would like to make a donation to this campaign, please use the enclosed envelope. We will soon be sending out letters to all of you in this regard.
ISCOWP PROGRESSIVE PROJECTS FOR 7/02 to 7/03
Written and submitted by Labangalatika dasi he Hare Krishna Farm is 160 acres on the Kaveri River and about 18 kilometers from Mysore, India. The land acquired was barren and no one wanted it, but the temple devotees in Bangalore were inspired by Srila Prabhupada’s vision for Varnasrama to establish a project where they could grow food naturally and have a sustainable way of life based on protection of the cow and the bull. In 1996 they started with one temple devotee, Jai Caitanya das, 3 helpers and 3 families from the area who are now chanting. At first it was necessary to connect with the local villagers and create good will. For instance, the devotees supported the local school project at Mahadevpura. Jai Caitanya das, who had previously helped set up the incense business in Bangalore temple, had no background in farming but agreed to give it a try for one week, and that week is still going on 6 years later. It is a great achievement that after 6 years this is the first year they have broken even.
They started a pilot project on 2 acres and the first 2 years were a struggle. They planted trees, a mixed plantation, starting with banana to create shade and make “mulch.’ They made the mulch from fallen leaves and grass waste. Now there are acres and acres of a lush tropical forest of coconut, guava, papaya, mango, amla, chikoo, cinnamon, all spice, karanj or pangamia, and glyricidia which is both good for fodder and for fertilizer as the leaves are full of nitrogen. Black pepper vines grow on the trees and also vanilla which is the one tremendously successful commercial crop. Even sandalwood trees are growing here and there from seeds dropped by birds. These trees take 40 years to mature. At first they were attacked by armies of pests of all kinds, from sucking pests to ravenous beetles to soil born diseases. Jai Caitanya das learned traditional ways of pest control by talking to old farmers and experimenting with natural pesticides made from cow urine and various pest repellent herbs. At first they used to spray 10 times a month, now they only spray twice a month because the birds, which have come to settle, do a lot of biological control. A Singapore Cherry tree was planted to attract the birds. Some trees are covered from the trunk to the ends of their twigs by a tree paste of clay, cow dung, and fine sand to protect the bark form insects. After 2 years Jai Caitanya das was ready to teach by conducting sustainable farming workshops. He had made big heaps of vermi compost for fertilizer from cow dung, grass waste, dry leaves and small twigs. As soon as one heap is ready the worms shift themselves by crawling to the next adjacent pile. Now he is employing 40 to 60 day laborers, depending on the season, from the local area. They see the benefit of getting extra income, acquiring knowledge, and participating in the devotee festivals. The Kaveri River charges the wells. Jai Caitanya das had contour mapping done and made 2 big storage ponds. They had to be lined with a layer of clay to prevent drainage. In the second year the ponds got filled and are now used for irrigation. He also made V shaped check dams so soil and water are caught and stored there during rains. He has a wind pump of 150 feet to pump water near the cow shed. The cost was 1 lakh rupees, but it was subsidized by the government. He has some solar pumps and wants to introduce ramp technology to lift water for irrigation by micro sprinklers. Closer to the river are rice paddies with mixed cropping of vegetables. Crops are planted from wetland to dry land on the hills. He has a Memorandum of Understanding with the University of Bangalore’s Agriculture Department. They visit him every week and are researching multi cropping, such as rice with vegetables and pulses. He is also on the managerial committee for Biodynamic Farming and a member of the Association. He makes all his biodynamic preparations with herbs available from Ooty in the hills. There is a goshalla of about 20 cows and bulls. The herd consists of the Krishna Valley breed that is almost extinct, and the Hllikar, Gir, and Tarparker breeds. He is also keeping the retired cows from Bangalore temple that are of western breeds. The western breeds are very common in Karnatka and kept everywhere with nose ropes, probably for easier handling of big Holstein cows. The grown bull calves of the temple cows are engaged in farm work. At present they are all tied. He has planted 30 acres of forest area for their grazing but has not allowed the cows to graze there yet as the trees need time to grow. He is planning to buy a 25 acre island in the Kaveri River for “pasudhan,” cow protection. He has taught 250 farmers sustainable farming in the outreach program. He teaches them how to make vermi compost from cow dung and herbal pesticides. He supplies the seed to them and buys back the crop afterwards and markets it. The first harvest is guaranteed, starting on a half acre. The farmers see the change in their land and they are happy. The rice crop increases from 1.4 tons per acre to 2.1 tons per acre. (Testing, like weighing the crop, is done as there is a need to address the farmer’s psychological so they will not resort to using any chemicals. He is getting all the farmers certified organic to the international standard. He is slowly introducing them to Srila Prabhupada. First you change your land and then your lifestyle changes, then you change your spiritual life. “This is Karma Bhumi, unless it hits you in the stomach no one is going to work. These farmers need this. They are coming to take it,” says Jai Caitanya das. ”
Through the outreach program, farmers are growing organic crops all over Tamil Nadu, Kerala, and Karantaka. There is even a farmer growing organic wheat in Madhya Pradesh and a Tibetan settlement near Mysore growing organic cotton. These are some of the crops bought back from the farmers by Jai Caitanya das and marketed by him. He must store the harvested crops from the farmers before marketing in direct sales. The storage is done in a go-down that stores 200 tons of food grains and keeps wheat for one year. The grain sacks are placed on teakwood planks so nothing touches the floor. The tops of the sacks are filled with neem leaves, karanj leaves, nirgundi leaves (vitex negundo) and chili seeds before closing. The outside of the sacks is then sprayed with sitaphal oil. The walls are smeared with cow dung, karanj oil, and tumeric every 15 days. The pesticide oils and their cooking oil are pressed on the oil ghani in the village. Karanj oil is also useful for burning and can be used as an engine oil and even diesel. Cow Urine is sprayed in the crevices and cinnamon leaves and cinnamon powder or dust are scattered for good pest control. He has a rice bank of 25 traditional varieties. He has created a market for the farmers and given it to them. There is great potential in organic farming and especially in exports where they are prepared to pay a premium. He is creating awareness in consumers and customers preaching to them why they should eat organic food. There are theme shops in Bangalore, Chennai, Mysore and Ooty which now have an interest in organic products. He has had the greatest success with sugar cane, making most delicious powdered jaggery. It is so important for spiritual development to eat proper food. After all what were the Pandavas eating? We should remove the 3 W’s from our diet: white rice, white flour, and white sugar. All ISKCON temples should have 20 acres to grow their own pure food to offer to the Lord and sustain the devotees. Jai Caitanya modestly says: “If I can do this on this land, anybody can do it.” He has made a blueprint for 2 to 3 acre farms and 2 cows with a market hub and a spiritual hub and says that ISKCON should lead the way in rural development.
New Vraja-dhama Farm In Hungary Questions and Answers between Radhakanta das and Balabhadra das Radhakantha Prabhu, Thank you for your letter of Aug.6, 2002. > THE DIET OF THE OXEN Previously (3-4 years ago) each and every oxen got fodder, it didn't matter if he worked or not. Then, there was a period, when only the working oxen get fodder. Presently (since 1 year) nobody gets fodder, neither the oxen nor the cows because they don't do hard work for a long time. We have a book, that describes what is required for the oxen, the working oxen, and the cows in protein, dry fodder, and starch and we try to feed them according to this information. Winter time (from October to April): every one (oxen and cows) gets hay, which we collected in the summer. We have hay from grass, burgundy hay and medic. We made corn-silage last year, this was good, and mainly we gave it to the cows. Summertime: The oxen are not grazing, because we haven't got enough pastures. Therefore we produced green fodder for summer. Previously we scythed it and brought in for them, but this year we drive them to the fields of green fodder, so eventually they also can graze. But we have a plan to plant more pastures for all the animals. We bought approximately 30 hectares behind the new goshala, so that every one could graze in summer.
We are cultivating 70 hectares: We have 2 tractors and 13 oxen, who are trained to pull the cart. From this staff usually three couple of oxen are working. They can sow, transport, and fill up potatoes. The others are mainly not working, because they are little and the other reason is that we haven't got enough coachman. Five people work in the goshalla, who take care of the animals, two milkman, three ox drivers, and one auxiliary man.. Our works are: plowing, scything hay, and making bales. The work of oxen: sowing, gathering hay, transporting wood (we use a lot of wood for cooking and heating on the farm).> It sounds like you are doing your research and making intelligent decisions with the feeding program. Corn silage is good for winter, and the cows like it very much. One thing to bear in mind about corn is that it is a winter food as it puts heat in the body. Just like in aruyvedic concept, different foods will heat or cool the body. Corn is good for winter as it will heat the body.
The main problem with the ox programs world wide is lack of Teamsters coachman). Your program sounds like what we had going on at Gita Nagari in the 70's& 80's. May lord Balarama bless you and send you more plowmen. > 2) I would like to ask about your sadhana: When do you milk the cows? How much cows do you have and how many persons do the milking? When you give fodder to the cows and bulls, who does it (milkman or ox-driver)? How do you work with the oxen - from when and how long a time they work? What type of fodder do you give to them? We used to milk the cows at 5.00 a.m. and also five a clock in the evening. After the early morning milking the oxen are driven out to graze, and the milkman goes to the temple program. After 10 a.m. we drive back the oxen, we give them water, and the ox-drivers can go to work with them. Then we drive out the cows to pasture, they stay out till noon, and at 1 p.m. they come back. After the oxen go out again to graze till afternoon milking. When we finish the milking, the oxen come back and the cows go out till 8 p.m..> Are you milking by hand or with machines. If you are milking by hand you can milk one person per cow or 2 persons per cow. At New Vrindavan many, many years ago, when all of the milking was done by hand and they were milking quite a few cows, they had a good number of milkmen. They would milk 2 men to a cow and in this way they would practice chanting slokas back and forth to each other. The choice is yours, 1 man or 2 men per cow. Time, place and circumstance.
When I was at Gita Nagari we would milk at 2 am and 2 pm. There were just 2 of us milking and we used machines. At that time we were milking between 20-27 cows and each of us had designated cows to milk. Grain was given during milking according to milk production of each cow. We would be done milking, feeding babies, clean up and checking of the rest of the herd by 3:45-4:00 am and then we would get cleaned up and go to the morning program. The early morning milking was so that the cowherds could go to the full morning program. During the summer it was rough because we also did allot of the hay work and other field work. To get a 6 hour rest at night was hard for the milkers. Pick the times that is good for your time, place and circumstance and be very regulated. Because of the heat and high humidity here on the east coast of America, we tried to work with the animals before 10 am and let them rest during the hot hours of the mid day. Again later on in the day we would work with the animals. Doing firewood we did at anytime as we were in the woods which was shady and cooler. Doing hay work we had to wait until the morning dew was dried by the sun. Plowing and field preparation was done in early spring or late fall so again the days were cool and the animals could be worked pretty much all day. The animals were fed concentrates (grain etc.) according to work and /or milk production along with hay/grazing according to time of year. Your feeding schedule sounds good. At Gita Nagari the milkmen fed the milking herd and the babies along with the heifers. The ox men feed the working oxen and the non working oxen. We got up to 157 animals and in 1985 stopped breeding except to supply milk for the Deities and children until the herd got down to a smaller size. The timing and division of labor is up to what is best for your program. > This year all the oxen and the cows were pasturing (grass and sainfoid till this time) We have 75 liters daily, so the quantity of milk was almost doubled. This comes from nine cows (2 cows give milk for 1,5 years, and the other for 3-4 years) and we have a heifer (who has not had a calf) who gives spontaneously 2 litres daily! We finished the springtime sowing. We planted Lucerne with oat (4 hectares), and a mixture of oat and vetch (10 hectares). Springtime we had a lot of rain and it was good for the sowing and the grass.> Sounds good. > Now I will write about the new cowshed: According to the plans, the building of new goshalla will be ready at the end of July. In the new cowshed, only the cows will have a building to stay inside. There will be free-keeping so they can go out the sheepfold around the building. I mentioned before we bought an area of 32 hectares behind the building for pastures. The oxen will be near the goshalla, it will be a half-roofed building, with pavement under the oxen and walls on three sides. I want to ask about this pavement. What is better for the oxen: (We are afraid, that the concrete pavement will be very cold in wintertime, because here we used to have very heavy winters. Usually this means 10-20 degrees below zero. Maybe it would be better ground for them? How much area are counted for an ox in square meters? (for grown up, 1000 kg weight ox). How much should be the measurement of the sheepfold? What is the minimal distance between the two sides, so that the oxen could make evasion of the bigger and stronger oxen? How long roof do you advise to us, so the rain couldn't fall in?> The problem with having a dirt floor is that it can turn to mud and be a real mess. I have cement floors in my barns and during the winter months I put down bedding on top of the cement . Bedding means that if they pull some hay into area and walk on it, it can be used to cover the cement. If you are harvesting grain then you will have straw which can be stored like hay. It can be laid down as needed where the animals are to keep the dung covered and the cement covered. As the winter progresses the bedding gets thicker and thicker and separates the animals from the cement. It also becomes warm because the bedding and urine and dung start to act as a compost pile and heat up as it starts to break down into composted material. In the spring it can be cleaned out and piled to finish its breaking down and in the fall spread on the fields and gardens as fertilizer. This is called Bedding Pack and is quite comfortable for them. The open air barn should be built with the front (open) side facing away from your weather . What direction does the majority of your weather come from: north, south, east or west? By having the back wall facing the weather the open side will face the direction away from the wind and weather so rain and snow and wind entering the building will be minimized. Keeping the animals dry is important and equally important is to keep them out of the wind. Wind chill is very damaging in the winter months. As far as how many square meters you need you can figure by watching your animals as they sit. Measure the area when they sit down. Watch them when they get up and start to move around. How many animals will be using the facility? Will it just be for loafing or will they be fed there also? Will their feed be stored there or brought on a daily basis? If they are fed there, will there be a place to enter with the wagon of feed so that it is out of the weather? Will there be different age groups and sizes of animals? If there are different sizes and ages, and you will be feeding there, you may want to have the barn divided in half so the smaller animals will not be intimidated by the larger animals. > I also would like to ask about plowing: There is a person who claims that there is no need to use disc-harrow, and other . They are saying that the Indian type shallow plowing is the enough, and there are others who advise us "deep" plowing. What do you think which is better? Which method you adopted in your farm?> The traditional type of plowing for many years was called moldboard plowing. This is when the soil is turned over by a plow at a depth of 6, 8, 10 inches each year. After the plowing was finished the disc-harrow was used to break up the soil that was turned over and then, if a very smooth seed bed was required, a spike tooth harrow or spring tooth harrow with a log drag was used to further break up the soil and smooth it out for seeding. What happens when you moldboard plow year after year is called a hard pan. By plowing at the same depth each year you are sealing that layer of soil. It makes it very hard for the roots to penetrate and also water drainage is hampered, especially in clay type soils. Allot of farmers have stopped with the moldboard plowing on a yearly basis and only moldboard plow maybe every 3rd or 5th year. Instead they use a tool bar with a set of chisel plows. For breaking sod you would need to moldboard plow and then disc harrow. For open soil you could chisel and then disc harrow. If you had allot of organic matter that needed to be incorporated into the soil you would disc harrow first to break it up and then either moldboard plow or chisel. What type of soil do you have? In a sandy, light soil, which is the majority of soil in India, shallow plowing may be sufficient. I think in a heavier soil that deeper soil preparation would be the desired method. Also during the growth of your crops, timely cultivation is essential. Also allot of farmers every several years are using a sub-soiler which is like a maha heavy duty chisel plow. They reach down about 2 feet and open up that sub soil so that roots and water and oxygen have easy access to sub soil levels and also allow nutrients easier access to upper level stratas of the seed beds. Each farm will have many different soil conditions that may require you to practice different types of soil preparation. What do you think? What have been your practices up till now? Who is saying that Indian style plowing is enough? Are they from India with no experience with your soil types?
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