From: Hare Krsna dasi (Brunswick, Maine - USA) Hare.Krsna.dasi@bbt.se 
Sent: 17 March 1999 17:51
Subject: Grassfarmer.com home page

[Text 2172066 from COM]

Here is a group of excellent connections to information on rotational grazing or management-intensive grazing, for healthier, more comfortable cows and other animals.

If you follow the arrows to the Stockman Grassfarmer link, they will send you a free issue of their bi-monthly newspaper -- which has
techniques for wet-land grazing, dry-land grazing, hot-climate grazing and cold-climate grazing.

It also tells how to get all kinds of practical equipment, including solar-powered batteries for rotational fencing systems and light-weight shade devises. Think of it! -- you could turn 5 acres of weeds at the Mayapur temple-site into pleasant grazing land for the cows, instead of keeping them chained in their stalls all day (while the deer get to run free).

(Stockman Grassfarmer once featured an article about Sita and Rasala's rotational grazing scheme at Gita-nagari Farm.)

your servant,

Hare Krsna dasi




http://www.grassfarmer.com/

From: Radha Krsna (das) ACBSP GB (Great Britain) Radha.Krsna.ACBSP.GB@bbt.se 
Sent: 21 March 1999 17:56
Subject: Grassfarmer.com home page

[Text 2176483 from COM]

If you follow the arrows to the Stockman Grassfarmer link, they will send you a free issue of their bi-monthly newspaper -- which has techniques for wet-land grazing, dry-land grazing, hot-climate grazing and cold-climate grazing.

This sounds wonderful. There are many grazing systems and it would be interesting to see if the Indian farmers could actually get as much or more benefit from intensive fodder production by these methods than cutting so many crops a year and bringing to the stalls. Presumably this publication is only available in America? How can I order it?

Another point is that if you do a grazing system you must maintain your land properly. This means you must get your bulls on the land and chain harrow in the large amounts of dung that is left by the animals. It cannot be just left dumped in the fields, as I have seen on so many farms in ISKCON. this amounts to bad agricultural management according to authorities and is not good for the ground, (as previously mentioned|). Whatever system you do you must do SOME work. Also the whole question of grazing practice runs on ENOUGH land, as if you don't have enough land trying to graze does more damage than the stall system (with daily exercise); like the land on the Yamauna side of the Goshala it is already dead and the trees (old ones) are dying/dead too. And this still does not rule out the Very Hot Period in India, or the rainy season or the flooding season (Mayapur,4 feet deep; there is no grazing at 4 feet deep) or the infertility problem or the shortage of land, because of the huge cost of land in Mayapur which nobody seems to be able to afford. (as previously mentioned)

From: Samba (das) SDG (Mauritius) Samba.SDG@bbt.se 
Sent: 20 August 1999 09:54
Subject: Cows and pasture

[Text 2569428 from COM]

Does the 'Minimum protection standards for cows in ISKCON' document, include data regarding lands required for cow feed?

And if it does, do these standards cover different climatic zones?

We are thinking about the possibility of getting cows here, and we want to know what is the minimum land requirement to be able to feed them. We have a year round growing season, so I would imagine that we would need less land, than say a northern clime.

Is there a formula for the amount of land you need, per cow or bull, so we can work out what we need?

Is the Minimum Cow Standards paper available as an attached file I can download?

Thanks prabhus.

Your Servant
Samba das

From: Rohita (Dasa) ACBSP (New Talavan MS - USA) talavan@com.org 
Sent: 20 August 1999 13:28
Subject: Cows and pasture

[Text 2569904 from COM]

On 20 Aug 1999, Samba das wrote:

Does the 'Minimum protection standards for cows in ISKCON' document, include data regarding lands required for cow feed?
 
And if it does, do these standards cover different climatic zones?
 

Comment:
We tried to make it general enough to be inclusive of different situations.

We are thinking about the possibility of getting cows here, and we want to know what is the minimum land requirement to be able to feed them. We have a year round growing season, so I would imagine that we would need less land, than say a northern clime.

Comment:
Not necessarily so it depends upon the availability of water year round, the carrying capacity of the land should be available from the agriculture department of your government, you should ask whether that is fertilized land or not?

Is there a formula for the amount of land you need, per cow or bull, so we can work out what we need?

Comment:
This is variable, it depends on the nutrient value of the plants grazed, the size of the animal and the nutrient availability of the soil. These things the ag dept. have researched, the other alternative is to ask an old timer how many cows could you keep in a particular field and why? After awhile you will be able to tell, old man!

Is the Minimum Cow Standards paper available as an attached file I can download?
 

Comment:
Yes at ISCOWP's new Web Site http://www.iscowp.org
ys Rohita dasa

From: Madhava Gosh (das) ACBSP (New Vrindavan - USA) Madhava.Gosh.ACBSP@bbt.se 
Sent: 20 August 1999 15:55
Subject: Re: Cows and pasture

[Text 2570284 from COM]

Is there a formula for the amount of land you need, per cow or bull, so we can work out what we need?

That will vary according to local climate and soil conditions. For instance, in Northern climes, the ground is not producing for a large part of the year, so more land is needed. Out in the arid American West, more land is needed than then the rainy East. You really need to go to the local cow raisers in your particular area to figure that out.

Is the Minimum Cow Standards  available as an attached file I can download?

It's on ISCOWP's website. http://www.iscowp.org