Hearing the term "Cow Protection," people typically have one of two reactions. Some think protection is for endangered species, and since there are lots of cows, it's better to concentrate on whales. Others think it may be some pagan worship of animals - the "sacred cow" image.

With this view in mind, it can be seen that slaughter is a form of MURDER.

The cow, however, is our MOTHER. Vedic philosophy teaches there are 7 mothers: 1) the birth mother, 2) the nurse, 3) the wife of the father (if she is not the birth mother), 4) the wife of the king, 5) the wife of the spiritual master, 6) the earth, and 7) the cow. You may wonder why the cow is considered one of the 7 mothers. Well, it is because she gives her milk to nourish us.

5000 years ago, Lord Krishna, the Supreme Personality of Godhead, appeared on earth to protect His devotees and to demonstrate His pastimes. Among those pastimes was his childhood role as a cowherd boy. The cows were very dear to Him because of their affectionate and gentle nature as well as their contributions to human society, and He was kind to them in return and protected them. We should follow His example.

A mistake is made when only the cow is considered because typically her main usefulness is seen as milk production, and she won't give milk unless she first has a calf. Since half of all calves are bulls, the result will be a lot of excess bovine population. The expense of feeding them will be a deficit to the farmer. Unless employed as oxen, their only economic usefulness will be in their slaughter to produce meat.

The modern system of agriculture sees no other economically viable means of management. And most people, accustomed to this viewpoint and seeing no alternative, will throw up their hands and agree, even if they'd prefer a less violent solution. But that is only because they don't have the facts. They don't know that the overall value of the ox is greater when he is utilized for work than when he's slaughtered for meat.
 

Yet, beef production is subsidized in countries like USA and India. To produce beef there is a disproportionate expenditure of the Earth's resources. In a world with increasing population and mass starvation, producing one calorie of flesh (beef, pork, or chicken) requires 11-17 calories of feed. 78 calories of fossil fuel are needed to produce 1 calorie of protein from beef. Two-thirds of Central America's rainforest have been destroyed to supply beef. *

 A BETTER SYSTEM would be rearranging the components. First, breed cows not to provide milk with calves as the by-product, but to provide a team of oxen for every family farm with milk as the by-product. There will be neither excess milk nor excess calves. The oxen will be out in the pastures eating simply, and naturally fertilizing the soil, saving the farmer the cost of the tractor, fuel, and fertilizer. The oxen will be quite content to use their big muscles in such wholesome work, and the humans can become healthy vegetarians. As for the government, if it wants to subsidize something, why not the small family farm instead of the beef industry? The beef industry may have a powerful lobby, but who wants all that heart disease, diabetes, colon cancer, not to mention all that bad karma from killing innocent animals!