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THE ISCOWP NEWS Volume 14 Issue 1 2004
“The Bull is The Emblem of The Moral Principle” Srimad Bhagavatam 1.16.18 Purport
Click on pictures to enlarge
Annual Report for the Year 2003 1/1/03 - 12/31/03 This issue contains the annual report for ISCOWP activities for the year 2003. We are most grateful to you, our supporters, for your help in spreading cow protection both in the past and in the future. Lifetime cow protection is a challenge in a cold climate. The cows can graze during the spring, summer and fall, but they need shelter from the elements especially during the harsh winter months. You, our members, helped build the large cow barn (shelter) in the top picture. Thank you! The project for 2004 is to repair the loafing shed (to the right of the cow barn in the top photo). Details can be found within the ISCOWP Update. Letters: Giving up Commercial Milk Saves Cows? ISCOWP Profit & Loss Statement 2003
ISCOWP Financial Analysis 2003
Ox Power, Compassionate Use of Alternative Energy
Giving Up Commercial Milk Saves Cows? From: billy bob buckwheat <d_4h@hotmail.com> To: Cow (Protection and related issues) <Cow@pamho.net> Date: 11/29/2003 12:10:03 AM Subject: Giving up on commercial milk saves cows?
Syamasundara, HK, The main point of this article on Chakra by what I
received is that,.. Its just fine to buy commercial dairy milk as long as we
offer it to God, because the cows are going to be killed anyway... ( So, why
don't we help to perpetuate this...?). I will say I don't agree entirely.
I can
see that you may have purified the milk and given the maker (the cow) some
spiritual benefit... but at the same time perpetuate the killing of her
daughter. When Ramachandara was on his way to Sri Lanka, there is the pastime of building the bridge of stones to Sri Lanka from South India. The stones were being brought by various entities, of which one was a small squirrel of some sort. Someone criticized his efforts and then the Lord corrected the criticizer by claiming that even though he is bringing insignificant stones, to our scale or calculation, he is still involved in the eternal spiritual cause to purify. His stones, though small, are an addition and very significant, but to his proportion.
Similarly one may "think" that the population of vegetarians or pious
Hindus (non-cow killers) are of a lesser number in the world. But If they
were to privately and unanimously boycott or refrain from having any
dealings with the purchase of slaughter-milk (which is often and variously
infused with foreign substances and not very pure anyway), the number in
liters or gallons in demand of milk would obviously have a significant
decline. No matter the measurement, this would be of great significance
even if it were to save 1 cow, which in this case would be thousands. Or
such groups of people could simultaneously locate a local dairy or fund
protected cows even if a bit of a distance to supply their dairy needs. If
none get a cow... If not possible, have someone send some dairy, if it’s not
possible, just remain abstinent until a further better situation arises by
their endeavors. Anything for the cause is what gets things done. Like the
cooperation of the bees in a hive for their stores of honey.... This would
be the ideal... At the least buy it and offer it. If the greater number
would abstain or find pure alternatives the effect would be great. In the Bhagavad Gita, Krsna is explaining to Arjuna about various articles of foodstuffs to offer him with love and he will except. This could be considered the ideal and in the mode of goodness. He then in the next sloka says, Whatever you take, works, do, eat, etc...at least offer them to me. We can see the rules are more lenient and less of ideal, being a second degree from the first sloka. People who are more in passion or ignorance, or between a rock and a hard place while desperate would follow this one. A great point to be made is that we are trying to purify.. not to remain dirty.. or accumulate more Karma for our tongue or laziness.
From a story I heard if exact; Even when Krsna killed the demon in the form of a bull, the gopis wouldn't talk to him and they turned their backs. He then bathed in all the various products of the cows.. Dust, dung, urine, milk.....Even he needed the purification I guess..?? What to speak of us and he is God... The point is not to be implicated in their slaughter, if you can spare yourself the karma and find another means of dairy, even if you think that your insignificant 1 pounds or 1 dollars worth of milk from the ' Slaughter barn' will not amount to much of a help to the perpetuation... IT HELPS....every penny.... every farthing... supports the cost, demand, and perpetuation of such pirate's businesses. And so like the one who kills, the one who packs, the one who transports, the one who sells, the one who buys, the one who eats, or supports in any way, is the same as the one who killed....isn't that what is said?
Prabhupada had on his hands the burden of supplying milk for God in a country that he did not know. Using the sloka ' whatever you eat offer to me' most likely. He strived for the
ideal
and arranged farms with protected cows. Now whatever matures from this
'should' be of the stance of improvement. Like individuals taking on the
responsibility of a cow and/or to eliminate to their power the cow slaughter
or at least the help of it... Keep a cow, or find an alternative. From: Syamasundara (das) (Bhaktivedanta Manor - UK) <Syamasundara@pamho.net> To: billybob <doctorox@pa.net>; Cow (Protection and related issues) <Cow@pamho.net> Date: 12/10/2003 9:00:04 AM Subject: Giving up on Commercial Milk saves cows?
Thank
you for your letter and I am sorry about the delay in my reply.
I would
value your comments on the above
From: <Ekabuddh@aol.com> To: Syamasundara (das) (Bhaktivedanta Manor - UK) <Syamasundara@pamho.net>; <doctorox@pa.net>; Cow (Protection and related issues) <Cow@pamho.net> Date: 12/15/2003 9:30:03 PM Subject: Re: Giving up on Commercial Milk saves cows?
I have been away from e-mail of late, however, just
checked this one.... escape the world. The world will not go away, we must work within it to the best of our ability. And help others to do the same.
obeisances ekaB From: Mark Middle Mountain <gourdmad@ovnet.com> To: <Ekabuddh@aol.com>; <doctorox@pa.net>; <Cow@pamho.net> Date: 12/15/2003 9:50:03 PM Subject: Re: Giving up on Commercial Milk saves cows? >If there is no demand
for their milk (unprotected cows), then those relying on cattle, milking or
otherwise, to make a living, would see no alternative but to slaughter. It
is only common sense, it seems to me.> From: <ISCOWP@pamho.net>
To cow@pamho.net
Just
because we can not have the ideal supported by ISKCON and the devotees, i.e.
ox power agriculture, doesn't mean we can't take a stand that is less
complicated and not difficult to institute- abstain from milk products from
the commercial dairy as much as possible. At this point in the movement it
has been long enough to say that since we don't have the ideal of ox power
supported agriculture we need do nothing. That has been going on for more
than 30 years.
If one
is worried about the image that devotees have due to taking some position on
cow protection; I can honestly tell you that we appear hypocritical and with
no backbone because we do nothing concrete nor take any strong position.
Lately, I have been contacted by several persons in PETA for various
reasons. These people are vegans for ethical reasons. They do not have the
philosophy we do, but they are willing to commit to some abstinence, some
austerities for the sake of a moral issue. On the other hand, most devotees
take no action and just go on saying it won't make any difference if we
abstain from commercial milk-just a drop in the bucket. And the devotees
have the perfect philosophy about cow protection. ISCOWP Secretary
Thank You for Contributing During the Fiscal Year 2003 (1/03- 12/03)
PATRONS ($7,500.00 - $1,000.00) Anonymous ..............................................................$7,500.00 Anonymous...............................................................$5,031.46 ISKCON Governing Body Commission........................................$5,950.00 Kanina d & Arjuna d.....................................................$4,000.00 ISKCON New Vrndavana....................................................$3,583.16 Anuttama d & Rukmini dd (Walker Family).................................$1,500.00 Henry Schoellkopf.......................................................$1,450.00 Suryaram and Sushila Joshi .............................................$1,300.00 Shastra d (Scott Frohman)...............................................$1,000.00
ASSOCIATES ($999.00 - $500.00)
Saraswati dd (Betty Woodhouse)..........................................$..850.00 Kartik and Kamatchi Venkataramani.......................................$..738.00 Lauren Trainor..........................................................$..670.00 Rupanuga d & Jayanti dd (Robinson Family................................$..650.00 Amal Bhakta d...........................................................$..600.00
GUARANTORS ($499.00 - $200.00)
Janesa d (George Willmon)...............................................$..456.00 Jon Erik Grigsby........................................................$..455.00 Kirtana-rasa d., Beth,Clair Chaitanya,Nathan Kesava (Mausert Family)....$..450.00 Maha Mantra d (David Fuller)............................................$..424.00 Jill Anne Eisenbraun....................................................$..420.00 Hoy & Lillie Robinson...................................................$..350.00 Lorraine S. Dove........................................................$..300.00 Giriraj d (Ramos Family)................................................$..299.00 Hita dd (Tessele family)................................................$..280.00 Doug Carlton............................................................$..250.00 Siddhartha Tulsian......................................................$..237.59 Rajaram Venkataramani...................................................$..209.00 Saranagati dd (Sarah Schofield).........................................$..201.00
SUPPORTERS ($199.00 - $100.00)
Ram & Aruna Singhania...................................................$..180.00 Vinod and Promila Vig...................................................$..171.00 Mary Crane..............................................................$..150.00 Lilavati dd (Lila Trombetta).............................................$..150.00 Kamalesh & Arti Shah....................................................$..150.00 Krishna Vijh............................................................$..150.00 Balai dd (Blanche Marsden)..............................................$..121.00 Ramiya Dasa (Meier Family)..............................................$..121.00 Pusti dd (Connie Humphrey)..............................................$..120.00 Hare Krsna dd & Stephen Petroff.........................................$..110.00 Jack Baldwin & Kunti dd DePoo...........................................$..108.00 Nrsingha Chaitanya d....................................................$..108.00 Vidyananda d. & Kirtida Kanyaka dd (Halvorson family)...................$..108.00 Shrutadev d & Deanna Kaufman............................................$..105.00 Bhadranga d & Hladini Sakti dd (Sherman Family).........................$..102.00 Muniyappa Venkatesha....................................................$..102.00 Dr. Thirumalal Radhakrisnan.............................................$..101.00 Harinama dd Mahatme.....................................................$..100.00 H.H. Candramauli Swami..................................................$..100.00 Isvari d (R. Glenn Wharton).............................................$..100.00 James Seymour III.......................................................$..100.00 John Matlick............................................................$..100.00 Rama Paliwal MD.........................................................$..100.00
CONTRIBUTORS ($99.00 - $50.00)
Pradyumna d & Dipika Vanodia............................................$..91.00 Dayananda d (Wright Family).............................................$..90.00 Isabelle Haas...........................................................$..90.00 Theresa & Jimmy Devine..................................................$..80.00 Michael & Amanda Hobson.................................................$..80.00 Stephen Sorra...........................................................$..60.00 Kirk Cornwell...........................................................$..54.00 Barry and Annie Edwards.................................................$..54.00 Puspa H. Govind (on behalf of late husband Hasmukhlal Govind)...........$..51.00 Harinama dd (Hedy Mink).................................................$..51.00 Sachi Mata d (Shirley Prins)............................................$..51.00 Mike R Mahler...........................................................$..50.00
DONORS ($49.00 - $30.00)
Philip James............................................................$..45.00 Atmarama d (Bernard Faustino)...........................................$..42.00 Radha dd (Monorama Mahajan).............................................$..42.00 Richard Gemberg.........................................................$..36.95 Hara Kanta dd Morrill...................................................$..32.00 Chris & Paula Baymiller.................................................$..30.00 Robin Parmley...........................................................$..30.00
SUBSCRIBERS ($29.95 - $5.00)
Nirguna d & Vijaya dd...................................................$..27.00 Indra Pramada d (Eliot Cohen)...........................................$..25.00 Jane Alexander..........................................................$..25.00 Jai Caitanya d..........................................................$..25.00 Venkatraman Chandrasekaran..............................................$..25.00 Lenny Greenberg.........................................................$..25.00 Erik and Karin Hazelhoff................................................$..25.00 Nara Narayan d (Nathan Zakheim).........................................$..25.00 Jaishri and Suresh K. Verma.............................................$..25.00 Rene Waisvisz...........................................................$..25.00 Judith Goodson..........................................................$..21.00 Hemil Chhatbar..........................................................$..21.00 Lori McWhorter..........................................................$..21.00 Lavanya-mangala dd (Lorie Erbs).........................................$..21.00 Aroon and Lilly Chaddha.................................................$..20.00 Kripanidhi d (James Cox)................................................$..20.00 Victor Gabriel Epand....................................................$..20.00 Annie Haslam............................................................$..20.00 Harry & Lindsay Spaar...................................................$..20.00 Vedavyasa d.............................................................$..20.00 Stefanie Goodart........................................................$..15.00 Dina Sharana d.& Satyabhauma dd. (Greenberg Family).....................$..15.00 Akilananda d Fitch......................................................$..10.00 Dhruva Maharaja d & Samapriya dd........................................$..10.00 Alice Wai and Lewis Kramer..............................................$..10.00 Steve Zumbo.............................................................$..10.00 James A. Torre..........................................................$...5.00
"The infectious agent of mad cow disease remains infective even after exposure for an hour to a temperature of 680 degrees Celsius - enough to melt lead - and can withstand antibiotics, boiling water, bleach, formaldehyde, and a variety of solvents, detergents and enzymes known to destroy most known bacteria and viruses." Rampton, Sheldon, and Staubcr, John, "Mad Cow U.S.A.: Could the Nightmare Happen Here?' PR Watch; See also Institute of Food Science and Technology (UK), "Bovine Spongiform Encephalopathy (BSE): part 1/6, part I of a 6-part position paper, http://www.ifst.org/hottop5.htm [02.06.27:04] 01/02/04: "Right now you'd have a hard time finding a federal agency more completely dominated by the industry it was created to regulate.... The Agriculture Department has a dual, often contradictory mandate: to promote the sale of meat on behalf of American producers and to guarantee that American meat is safe on behalf of consumers." ["The Cow that Jumped over the U.S.D.A." - Op-ed by Eric Schlosser in the NY Times "France
tested over 75,000 cattle a week (on an average) in January 2001,
compared to the U.S.'s 57,000 in the entire 13 year history of the U.S.
testing program (as of 9/30/03)"
Click on picture to enlarge From: dalton@bluefrog.com To: iscowp@earthlink.net Date: 1/10/2004 4:03:11 PM Subject:Thank you I recently acquired a real gem of an Ox Yoke. I just finished removing two thick layers of paint! We will be displaying it in our church with some verses over it that Jesus spoke; "Come unto me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy and my burden is light." Thank you for the informative articles on how they are made. Wade
ISCOWP Profit & Loss Statement From Quicken Financial Software 1/1/03 –12/31 INCOME Consult Service…………………………………………………1,200.00 Feed Re ISKCON…………………………………………………………322.71 Gift Received: GBC…………………………………………………………………………5,950.00 Members……………………………………………………………36,195.60 TOTAL Gift Received……………………………………42,145.60 Rebates……………………………………………………………………………287.64 Travel Refund……………………………………………………………900.00 TOTAL INCOME………………………………………………………44,855.95
EXPENSES Animal Care: Feed………………………………………………………………………1,959.06 Gear………………………………………………………………………………44.88 Medical………………………………………………………………3,063.29 TOTAL Animal Care……………………………………………5,067.23 Auto: Insurance…………………………………………………………2,038.53 Oil…………………………………………………………………………………43.63 Parts…………………………………………………………………………272.52 Tags………………………………………………………………………………61.00 Taxes……………………………………………………………………………57.13 Tires…………………………………………………………………………460.00 TOTAL Auto………………………………………………………………2,932.81 Farm Operation: Barn Construction…………………………………………330.81 Bridge………………………………………………………………………600.00 Construction………………………………………………………670.76 Electricity…………………………………………………………243.50 Equipment………………………………………………………………893.93 Fencing………………………………………………………………2,127.43 Garden………………………………………………………………………381.49 Greenhouse……………………………………………………………239.00 Hay Barn…………………………………………………………10,472.19 Property Insurance…………………………………1,834.67 Labor……………………………………………………………………4,248.28 Land………………………………………………………………………9,500.00 Road Construction……………………………………1,412.85 Seed………………………………………………………………………………32.50 TOTAL Farm Operation………………………………33,023.41 Medical……………………………………………………………………………203.30 Membership Development: Canning………………………………………………………………………81.32 Cookies………………………………………………………………………58.47 Entertaining………………………………………………………188.62 Gift Boxes………………………………………………………………55.62 Internet…………………………………………………………………239.40 Photos………………………………………………………………………200.50 Postage……………………………………………………………………395.24 Premium Gift Postage……………………………1,037.08 Printing……………………………………………………………1,395.58 Travel…………………………………………………………………3,479.65 TOTAL Member Development…………………………7,239.86 Miscell………………………………………………………………………………50.00 Office: Computer Repair…………………………………………………74.90 Hardware/Software……………………………………1,354.26 Subscriptions………………………………………………………72.00 Supplies…………………………………………………………………870.49 Utilities…………………………………………………………………27.95 TOTAL Office…………………………………………………………2,469.50 Service Charge……………………………………………………………51.18 Tax,: Fed……………………………………………………………………………………5.95 State……………………………………………………………………………25.00 TOTAL Tax………………………………………………………………………110.68
TOTAL EXPENSES…………………………………………………51,032.23
TRANSFERS From Dove Checking………………………………………2,011.35 TOTAL TRANSFERS……………………………………………………2,011.35
TOTAL INCOME - TOTAL EXPENSES + TRANSFERS …………………………………………-4,164.93
2002 BALANCE……………………………………11,881.00 + INCOME………………………………………………44,855.95 - EXPENSES…………………………………………51,032.23 + TRANSFERS…………………………………………2,011.35
2003 ENDING BALANCE……………………7,717.00
INCOME As usual, most of ISCOWP’s income comes from its members to carry on the work of ISCOWP and for campaigns to improve the facilities at ISCOWP’s farm. The second largest income bracket is from the ISKCON Governing Body Commission (GBC) to facilitate the service to ISKCON of the ISKCON Ministry for Cow Protection and Agriculture of which Balabhadra is ISKCON Minister. Since most of our herd is from the ISKCON New Vrndavana farm, the feed is paid for by them. Consultation income represents payment for caring for the New Vrndavana cows and advise and consultation on land and cow issues.
EXPENSES Farm Operation 65.12% of the expenses are for the Farm Operation which is the heart of ISCOWP. There are 26 cows protected here. In the year 2003, the hay barn was completed. This has made a big difference in eliminating hay spoilage. Just the other day Balabhadra and I (Chayadevi) were moving the hay bales into the cow barn from the hay barn and were pleased to note how they were all fresh with no mildew. We use to lose so much hay due to the hay having no shelter. The Hay barn was the largest expense of the year in the Farm Operation category. Much of the labor expense was also for the demolition of the old farm house and the construction of the new hay barn.
The next largest expense within the Farm Operation category was labeled land which means we paid off the mortgage on ISCOWP’s farm. Now the land and buildings are no longer encumbered. We owe this to the anonymous donations of some members. Of course the mortgage payments were on-going with the bulk being paid by Balabhadra through his night job and selling firewood from our forest.
Roads into the forest to allow vehicles and oxen to access the wood in the forest were built and a bridge (one of several planned) was built across a gulley to further access the forest. These access improvements also make for pleasant walking through the forest. All income from selling firewood from the forest has gone into paying off the mortgage.
Fencing is an ongoing project as it is always needing to be repaired due to deer traffic, some cows who think it is greener on the other side of the fence, most of it old and in disrepair, and a great deal of the fencing on forest hillsides which makes it difficult to access and utilize machinery to build the fence line. Most of the fencing has to be done by hand.
Membership Development 12.27% of the expenses were for Membership Development which is maintaining and developing our member and donor base by premium gifts, newsletters, travel, and communication through the web page (www.iscowp.org) and e-mail. Last year we not only printed the ISCOWP newsletter but our first book “Cow Protection, Book 1.”
Animal Care 10.20% of the expenses were for animal care. Last year some of our close friends past away : Jitendra, Partha, and Agni. Medical bills were therefore high. When there is no illness, the everyday maintenance of the cows is not as challenging. Once the needed buildings, water system, etc. are in place (the basic structure of the farm) the main expense is finished. As the herd becomes older, medical expenses are expected to rise. Office 4.89% of the expenses were for the office. Last year we had some mishaps in the office computer category. However, now we have 2 good working machines by which we often have two people working at the same time. We had to update with software and a new machine to facilitate web page design and maintenance. Database, all financial calculation maintenance is on the machine we acquired in 2002. Our other machines and monitors were acquired in 1995 and either were becoming dysfunctional or too outdated for the current software needed to keep functioning within the 21st century. It seems a constant conflict living a simple life on the farm and then having to deal with high technology that keeps changing and advancing. Living isolated on the farm, this technology is now our main means of communicating the message of cow protection.
Transfers As you know Balabhadra and Lakshmi spent approximately 4 months in the mall during the winter of 2003. The purpose was to gain enough income for the following year so that Balabhadra could spend more time on the farm and in other cow protection pursuits instead of working a night job as he has done for the past 5 years. The additional goal was to help pay off the farm mortgage with some of the proceeds. That was accomplished.
Since Balabhadra is the person who is familiar with the ISCOWP’s bill payments, he paid much of ISCOWP’s bills while at the Muncie Mall during the 4 month period. Chayadevi took care of the basic farm finances. Therefore some of the farm expenses were paid for by Balabhadra for which he will be paid back this year. We hope to have a better system if we do the mall work again.
February Member Letter Farm Mortgage Paid Off Balabhadra and Lakshmi’s mall winter work, and the help of anonymous donors, paid off the mortgage on the cow’s property. Now ISCOWP’s farm is entirely paid for. Securing the land for the cows makes us very happy. Thank you so much for the help!
Cows The cows are taking shelter of the barns during these cold winter days. Due to your generosity and the generosity of other members, the cows have a very nice shelter. With snow on the ground, there is no grass in the pastures to eat. Eating in the barn becomes a constant activity for all the cows especially since they have little to do in these winter months. Of course, the cows miss the green pastures but those green pastures will be available soon. Asha and Kamdhenu are safe and comfortable in their private apartment built for them in the big barn.
Click on picture to enlarge The new and old barns now united make a nice shelter for the cows during the winter. Weather In the previous monthly letter, I expressed the desire that it would get cold so the earth would freeze and create a less difficult terrain for the cows to traverse. The rainy and warm weather of November and December plus the concentration of the cows in the barnyard created holes filled with mud in the areas where there was no cement. These areas became a dangerous mess and an opportunity for the cows to slip and hurt themselves. Before this year, these areas were not a problem because the ground would freeze by the time the pasture could no longer provide grass and the cows needed to be in the barnyard. There is the saying, “be careful what you wish for.” Now the weather is consistently cold – often in the single digits. For the month of January 2004, the weather people are saying it was the coldest January since 1977 with temperatures consistently 10-20 degrees below normal. The ground is ice in most areas with snow on top. Now in the first week of February, we have had several days above freezing accompanied with heavy rain, followed by freezing temperatures, which has left everything covered by sheets of ice. It is really the most treacherous weather we have had in a long time. Loafing Shed for the Cows = ISCOWP Project for 2004 The rainy and warm weather of November and December (2003) plus the concentration of the cows in the barnyard created holes filled with mud in the areas where there was no cement. These areas became a dangerous mess and an opportunity for the cows to slip and hurt themselves. Before this year, these areas were not a problem because the ground would freeze by the time the pasture could no longer provide grass and the cows needed to be in the barnyard.
The worst area of mud and holes is the loafing shed yard. Not cemented, this area is dangerous to the cows. We were relieved with the first week of freezing temperatures in January, because we thought the mud would now freeze and there would be less danger for the cows in regards to slipping and being stuck in the mud. After the first few days of freezing temperatures, we found the barnyard area frozen except for a puddle right in front of the loafing barn. We assumed this puddle was a result of all the rain as it had never been there before the fall of 2003. After closer inspection, we found it to be either a spring or a new source of ground water run off. We inserted a metal rod vertically 2 feet into the puddle with no resistance. We won’t know until May or even June, when conditions dry out, if the water is still running and if it is indeed a spring or in reality just ground water run off. Currently the loafing shed and its yard are fenced off and the cows have no access to them for their safety. The holes created by the warm weather of previous months have frozen in place and created an opportunity for the cows to trip.
The cows also use the loafing shed in both spring and summer. The size of the loafing shed is 62 ft long and 20 ft. deep with a cement floor. Roof and 3 sides are corrugated tin, with the front being open. Drinking water is available in this area because we installed a freeze-less water tank in 1996.
Click on picture to make larger
The loafing shed (on the far right) in relationship to the big barn can be a nice facility for the cows
As has been our goal, we are trying to create a first class facility for the comfort of the cows and for the training of cowherds and ox teamsters. Each year we try to accomplish at least one project to get closer to having the infrastructure completed. Last summer, with your help, we were able to complete, start and finish the building of a 74 ft. by 40 ft. pole barn for storage of round bales of hay. By the end of hay season, we had under roof 200 round bales of hay. This has made a huge difference in quality of hay for the cows over the winter months. We have had virtually no spoilage of hay due to rain and snow. Spoilage has been decreased by 95%.
Now, the cows have shown us another area in the infrastructure that needs dealt with, THE LOAFING SHED.
Click on picture to make larger
We closed off the loafing shed yard because it is dangerous to the cows.
With the enclosed photos, you can see the muddy conditions and disrepair of the loafing shed. What we are planning to do is to extend the cement floor another 25 ft that would eliminate a large muddy area. A roof that will give shade in the summer and protection from snow and wind in the winter will cover the new cement floor. Separating a cow or group of cows from the herd will be possible after we install a wall in the middle of the shed to divide it into two compartments. If in fact there is a new spring and it is strong enough to develop, then that will be part of the project. If it is too weak to develop or just ground water run off then we will install drain tiles and channel the water away from the area.
The shed was built 20-25 years ago and at that time, a French drain was built around the shed. That French drain no longer works and is the source for a lot of water seeping into the loafing shed. Digging up the old French drain and replacing it with a new one with better quality pipes will enhance the longevity of the drain and building. Before pouring the new cement floor, there will be additional drainpipes assembled under the floor connected to the French drain so the drainpipes will catch the ground water that goes under the new floor and carries away from the building.
This is an estimate of cost for the Project:
1) Concrete = $2,905.38 a) footer 2ft by 2ft by 62 ft b) retaining wall 1 ft by 3 ft by 62 ft c) floor 62 ft by 25 ft by 6 inches
2) Gravel = $800.00 a) French drain b) 6 inch layer 25 ft by 62 ft under concrete floor
3) Rebar = $1800.00 a) 1 ft grid in 25 ft by 62 ft floor to give strength to concrete floor b) retaining wall strength c) tying old floor and new floor together
4) Excavation = $4000.00 a) possible spring development b) bring new floor site down to undisturbed soil by removing manure/mud c) dig footer d) dig new French drain e) ditch witch drain run off ditch
5) Labor = $4000.00
6) French drain and other drain pipes =$500.00 a) 700 ft
7) Lumber = $887.62 a) 12- pressure treated 6 by 6 posts b) 18- 2” by 6” by 22’
8) Lumber = $1144.00 a) green/rough cut from saw mill 2”by 6” by 16’ poplar b) green/rough cut from saw mill 2” by 6” by 14’ poplar c) green/rough cut from saw mill 1” by 6” by 16’ poplar
9) Tin roof and screws = $1500.00
10) Gutters and downspouts = $500.00
11) Paint and brushes = $170.00 a) 10 gallons
12) Nails = $100.00
These are estimates that bring the total to:
TOTAL = $18,327.00
Following the food chain back to Iraq
Harper’s Magazine, Feb 2004, by Richard Manning, Summarized by Hare Krsna dasi (Norma Petroff)
Text PAMHO:7886440 (139 lines) From: Internet: "Noma Petroff" <npetroff@bowdoin.edu> Date: 28-Feb-04 21:28 (16:28 -0500) Cc: Cow (Protection and related issues) [6859] Reference: Text PAMHO:7721274 by Rupanuga (das) TKG (Dallas, TX - US) Subject: Re: Article in Harper's on Energy Usage - Richard Manning ---------------------------------------------------- Rupanuga (das) TKG (Dallas, TX - US) wrote: >Some interesting points are made by one Richard Manning, in his article,"The Oil We Eat: Following the food chain back to Iraq," appearing in the February, 2004, issue of Harper's Magazine.>
Here are more excerpts from this. He's like a Casandra, futily prophesying dangers to a country that cannot hear.
Naturally, I can't help wondering if Manning ever read our BTG articles,like "How Long Can Modern Agriculture Feed Us?" and Balabhadra's "How Green Is Your Tractor?"
I can send the whole article to anyone who is interested.
******************************************** Harper’s Magazine, Feb 2004 Richard Manning
THE OIL WE EAT Following the food chain back to Iraq
The secret of great wealth with no obvious source is some forgotten crime, forgotten because it was done neatly. --Balzac
The journalist's rule says: follow the money. This rule, however, is not really axiomatic but derivative, in that money, as even our vice president will tell you, is really a way of tracking energy. We'll follow the energy.
We learn as children that there is no free lunch, that you don't get something from nothing, that what goes up must come down, and so on. The scientific version of these verities is only slightly more complex. As James Prescott Joule discovered in the nineteenth century, there is only so much energy. You can change it from motion to heat, from heat to light, but there will never be more of it and there will never be less of it. The conservation of energy is not an option, it is a fact. This is the first law of thermodynamics.
Special as we humans are, we get no exemptions from the rules. All animals eat plants or eat animals that eat plants. This is the food chain, and pulling it is the unique ability of plants to turn sunlight into stored energy in the form of carbohydrates, the basic fuel of all animals. Solar-powered photosynthesis is the only way to make this fuel. There is no alternative to plant energy, just as there is no alternative to oxygen. The results of taking away our plant energy may not be as sudden as cutting off oxygen, but they are as sure.
"The day is not far off," Kennan concluded, "when we are going to have to deal in straight power concepts."
Click picture to enlarge
Dry land rice grown by ISCOWP
If you follow the energy, eventually you will end up in a field somewhere. Humans engage in a dizzying array of artifice and industry. Nonetheless, more than two thirds of humanity's cut of primary productivity results from agriculture, two thirds of which in turn consists of three plants: rice, wheat, and corn. In the 10,000 years since humans domesticated these grains, their status has remained undiminished, most likely because they are able to store solar energy in uniquely dense, transportable bundles of carbohydrates. They are to the plant world what a barrel of refined oil is to the hydrocarbon world. Indeed, aside from hydrocarbons they are the most concentrated form of true wealth--sun energy--to be found on the planet.
Click on picture to enlarge Corn grown by ISCOWP The Dust Bowl was no accident of nature. A functioning grassland prairie produces more biomass each year than does even the most technologically advanced wheat field. The problem is, it's mostly a form of grass and grass roots that humans can't eat. So we replace the prairie with our own preferred grass, wheat. Never mind that we feed most of our grain to livestock, and that livestock is perfectly content to eat native grass. And never mind that there likely were more bison produced naturally on the Great Plains before farming than all of beef farming raises in the same area today. Our ancestors found it preferable to pluck the energy from the ground and when it ran out move on.
Today we do the same, only now when the vault is empty we fill it again with new energy in the form of oil-rich fertilizers. Oil is annual primary productivity stored as hydrocarbons, a trust fund of sorts, built up over many thousands of years. On average, it takes 5.5 gallons of fossil energy to restore a year's worth of lost fertility to an acre of eroded land--in 1997 we burned through more than 400 years' worth of ancient fossilized productivity, most of it from someplace else. Even as the earth beneath Iowa shrinks, it is being globalized.
Plato wrote of his country's farmlands: What now remains of the formerly rich land is like the skeleton of a sick man. ...Formerly, many of the mountains were arable, The plains that were full of rich soil are now marshes. Hills that were once covered with forests and produced abundant pasture now produce only food for bees. Once the land was enriched by yearly rains, which were not lost, as they are now, by flowing from the bare land into the sea. The soil was deep, it absorbed and kept the water in loamy soil, and the water that soaked into the hills fed springs and running streams everywhere. Now the abandoned shrines at spots where formerly there were springs attest that our description of the land is true.
Plato's lament is rooted in wheat agriculture, which depleted his country's soil and subsequently caused the series of declines that pushed centers of civilization to Rome, Turkey, and western Europe. By the fifth century, though, wheat's strategy of depleting and moving on ran up against the Atlantic Ocean.
More relevant here are the methods of the green revolution, which added orders of magnitude to the devastation. By mining the iron for tractors, drilling the new oil to fuel them and to make nitrogen fertilizers, and by taking the water that rain and rivers had meant for other lands, farming had extended its boundaries, its dominion, to lands that were not farmable. At the same time, it extended its boundaries across time, tapping fossil energy, stripping past assets.
The common assumption these days is that we muster our weapons to secure oil, not food. There's a little joke in this. Ever since we ran out of arable land, food is oil. Every single calorie we eat is backed by at least a calorie of oil, more like ten. In 1940 the average farm in the United States produced 2.3 calories of food energy for every calorie of fossil energy it used. By 1974 (the last year in which anyone looked closely at this issue), that ratio was 1:1. And this understates the problem, because at the same time that there is more oil in our food there is less oil in our oil. A couple of generations ago we spent a lot less energy drilling, pumping, and distributing than we do now. In the 1940s we got about 100 barrels of oil back for every barrel of oil we spent getting it. Today each barrel invested in the process returns only ten, a calculation that no doubt fails to include the fuel burned by the Hummers and Blackhawks we use to maintain access to the oil in Iraq.
David Pimentel, an expert on food and energy at Cornell University, has estimated that if all of the world ate the way the United States eats, humanity would exhaust all known global fossil-fuel reserves in just over seven years. Pimentel has his detractors. Some have accused him of being off on other calculations by as much as 30 percent. Fine. Make it ten years. (Text PAMHO:7886440) -----------------
Compassionate Use of an Alternative Energy
Click on picture to enlarge Oxen are also an alternative energy source on ISKCON’s Hungarian farm.
Text PAMHO:7781608 (183 lines) From: Internet: "Noma T. Petroff" <npetroff@bowdoin.edu> Date: 02-Feb-04 05:29 (00:29 -0500) To: Dasgopal@aol.com Cc: Cow (Protection and related issues) [6680] Subject: Re: ox training in Cuba - 1996 SFJ article -------------------------------------------------- ---- Original Message ----- From: Dasgopal@aol.com Date: Sunday, 02-Feb-04 10:50 pm Subject: ox training in Cuba
> This is some interesting information I found regarding training full grown oxen in Cuba - They started training 100,000 at a time due to fuel and tractor part shortages.
For an excellent overview of the role of oxen in post-Soviet Cuba, you should probably get a hold of the book edited by Fernando Funes, "Sustainable Agriculture and Resistance: Transforming Food Production in Cuba."
The most relevant part is Chapter 9 by Arcadio Rios of Havana's Agricultural Mechanization Research Institute. He gives a complete table of figures of draft animals for each decade. It's interesting to see the inroads of Soviet petroleum and technology in Cuban agriculture -- which stops abruptly with the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1990.
The thing which impresses me is that by 1990, Cuba had the most highly industrialized agriculture in *all* of Latin America. But within 7 years, they were able to revert mostly to ox power: 1960 500,000 oxen 1970 490,000 oxen 1980 338,000 oxen 1990 163,000 oxen 1997 400,000 oxen ******************************************************************************************************** Some of the farmers' recommended methods for training of animals (Cuba 2001*) 1) Fit a nose-ring and attach to the yunta (team) partner to accustom the animals to move together for all activities during several days. 2) Yoke the animals daily and leave them with the yoke for several hours whilst they move freely, eat and drink for short periods. > ******************************************************************************************************** Consider the following statement from Srila Prabhupada:
For the cowherd men and the cows, Krsna is the supreme friend. Therefore He is worshiped by the prayer namo brahmanya-devaya go-brahmana-hitaya ca. His pastimes in Gokula, His dhama, are always favorable to the brahmanas and the cows. His first business is to give all comfort to the cows and the brahmanas. In fact, comfort for the brahmanas is secondary, and comfort for the cows is His first concern. >>> Ref. VedaBase => SB 10.8.16 ******************************************************************************************************** So, think about this, and then review the Cuban government's instructions for training oxen. The fact is, for them comfort for the cows is the *lowest priority* in their criteria for training oxen.
So we should really think about that before we attempt to emulate their exact methods.
One big problem is the tactic of yoking the oxen together and letting them wander around in the pasture for several days. Here's a quote from Les Barden "Training the Teamster": “I take exception to some of the celebrated methods of introducing young steers to yoking which have been historically recorded and passed along. A practice, such as yoking steers, tying their tails together, then turning them out to pasture for a day or two, is cruel and counter-productive.” Steers need to be under strict control and discipline whenever in the yoke. From the first, they must be taught that in the yoke they move only when and where the teamster commands. Every precaution and restraint must be employed to ensure that when the bow pins are in place, the team is strictly under control. The team should not be allowed to read for feed and should never know it can run away. ******************************************************************************************************** I have to consider that the above passage is written by an old time New Englander who was no doubt a meat-eater. For me, if even a meat-eater says that a certain practice is unnecessarily cruel to oxen, then I know for sure that it would not be acceptable to Krsna, whose highest priority is the comfort of the cows.
My other great concern is the way the Cuban method seems to rely on using nose rings. Here's an excerpt from "Oxen in Cuban Agriculture" by Eve Iversen, which appeared in the summer 1996 issue of Small Farmer's Journal: ******************************************************************************************************** At the end of various lectures (Havana, Feb 1996) a film festival was held. Many participants brought video tapes of the work underway at their institutions. I brought "Bred for the Furrow, Draft Animals in Agriculture." It was a 35 minutes instructional video on the use of horses, donkeys, mules, and oxen in agriculture. It is distributed by the University of California Division.
I never expected the controversy that broke out. In Cuba, the head yoke is firmly tied to the horns, and a nose ring is used for control. The Cuban farmers in the audience could not understand how American farmers could use the neck yoke. The biggest questions were "How do you stop a cart on a hill?" and "How do you back up a cart?"
There was disbelief when the teamster in my film controlled her oxen with voice commands. In Cuba if the nose ring tears out, the ox is sent to slaughter, since he is considered uncontrollable.
Short of bringing an American ox team to Cuba, there was no way to settle the argument over the merits of the head yoke vs. the neck yoke, so the matter was left to be discussed at another meeting. ************************************************************************************************************ As Hrimati Prabhu can no doubt elaborate, Rolf Minhorst ("Modern Harness for Working Cattle") gives a thorough account of the shortcomings of the head yoke ranging from discomfort of the oxen (Germany prohibited the head yoke in the 1920's to prevent cruelty to animals) to the fact that scientific experiments have indicated that it is one of the least efficient devices for pulling a load, since the maximum strength of the oxen lies in their neck, not in their head.
In sum, it seems that the Cuban methods outlined above are mostly in the mode of passion -- Let's subdue these animals quickly, and may considerations of their comfort be damned. If they can't be quickly trained, let's slaughter them. So, while I admire the Cubans for converting to ox power, I don't think this represents the attitude we would want to use to train Krsna's oxen. Instead of relying on the development of trust and respect between teamster and oxen, it seems to rely mostly on brute force. Hare Krsna dasi (Text PAMHO:7781608) -----------------
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