Gita-nagari's Visaka: 8 year lactation!

[Guest guest]

On Sat, 19 Feb 2000, billy bob buckwheat wrote:

 

> [Text 3027497 from COM]

>

>

>

>

> >"COM: Hare Krsna dasi (Brunswick, Maine - USA)"

> ><Hare.Krsna.dasi (AT) bbt (DOT) se>

> >Hare.Krsna.dasi (AT) bbt (DOT) se, Cow (AT) bbt (DOT) se

> >"Noma Petroff" <npetroff (AT) Bowdoin (DOT) EDU>, ramprasad (AT) com (DOT) org, "COM:

> >Cow (Protection and related issues)" <Cow (AT) bbt (DOT) se>

> >Re: ben & jerry's

> >Tue, 8 Feb 00 11:48 -0500

 

> > > A cow gives milk for nine months then dries out for three. This

> > > cycle is repeated throughout the cow's productive life.

> > >

> > > When the cows can no longer produce milk, they are humanely put down

> > > and used as food products.

> > >

> > > Thank you for writing and caring.

> > >

> > > Ben & Jerry's

> > >

> >***********************************

> >

> >Hare Krsna dasi comments:

> >

> >

> >B&J states here that a cow give milk for 9 months and dries out for 3.

> >This is

> >not a given. This is entirely a management decision that they make in

> >managing

> >their breeding for their herd. A cow could give milk for 2 or even 4

> >years,

> >depending on the situation. However, it is a smaller quantity of milk, and

> >it

> >is

> >of a different quality, so probably would not be good for ice cream. They

 

 

> >Hypocrisy and commercialism go hand in hand -- especially with the dairy

> >industry.

> >

> >your servant,

> >

> >Hare Krsna dasi

> >

> >

> I don't know exact time but Visakha has been milking for about 8 years with

> out beeing freshened. She presently gives about 10-15pds in the morning and

> 8-10pds in the evening. magic mamma .

> yr servant, derek, GN OX PRO, Gita Nagari

 

Bhakta Derek Prabhu--

 

Please accept my humble obeisances. All glories to Srila Prabhupada.

 

That's amazing -- after 8 years, Visaka is still giving up to 25 pounds of

milk per day -- that's 3 gallons or maybe 12 liters.

 

Such a wonderful cow. I still remember before she had her first calf back

in 1989 or so, Sri Krsna said we should massage her udder so that she

would be used to having people touch her udder. Such a very nice

temperament. A daughter of Vrndavana the bull, I believe. Who was her

mother? What a great cow -- Brown Swiss.

 

Is Mother Kaulini still milking her also? Please give my regards to

Kaulini.

 

********************

 

Sometimes people think that they don't want a Brown Swiss because the

Brown Swiss are so big and require so more food and more pasturing ground

than a smaller cow.

 

But perhaps their economic assessment fails to take all factors into

account.

 

At 3 gallons per day for the past 8 years, how many thousands of gallons

of milk has Visaka produced?

 

And that is with just one calf to train and pasture.

 

Another cow, who is smaller, might have had to be bred 3 or 4 times to

produce an equal amount of milk. And would have produced 3 or 4 calves,

which probably would have required more feed and more pasturing ground

than Visaka's one calf.

 

For the average ISKCON farm, we don't really need so many calves, because

we at present don't have so many devotees who know how to train and work

them.

 

So, it seems to me that the number of calves per quantity of milk produced

-- in other worlds the total quantity of milk over the course of each

lactation -- is a very important factor to consider in deciding the

quality and breed of the cow to be bred.

 

It's not the only factor. And in some cases, especially where there are

trained devotees who want to work as many oxen as possible, it might be

better to breed a cow who will produce less milk per lactation. But in

general, I think that milk-production-per-lactation is an important

consideration which is too often disregarded altogether.

 

Again, Bhakta Derek, thanks for telling us about Visaka. A great news

update on one of Lord Damodara's great cows!

 

your servant,

 

Hare Krsna dasi