Improving our Cow Protection Programs

[Guest guest]

Here is the link to my recent article on Chakra "Improving our Cow

Protection Programs." The link is

http://www.chakra.org/living/SimpJan30_03.html Chakra's formatting

might be hard to read, so you may want to copy and paste it into an MS

Word document to make it more readable.

 

Here's the Abstract:

Appalled by modern dairy practices, devotees struggle with the question

of whether to be vegetarian or vegan. But neither dietary style - by

itself - fulfills the needed spiritual dimension of actually protecting

cows. For that, both must turn to cow protection programs. But many of

these are poorly managed and inadequate. Can donors make a difference?

The answer is yes - by understanding basic cow protection guidelines and

linking funding increases to program improvements.

 

So basically the idea is -- you may be a vegetarian or you may be a

vegan -- but no matter which way you think is the right way, for the

best spiritual advancement, you should also participate in some positive

form of protecting cows, and for that, you'll usually need to work with

one of our cow protection programs -- so how can we make them better?

 

Most of the points are actually from the Minimum Cow Protection

Standards on the ISCOWP website. The main difference is that I have

added Prabhupada quotes to a lot of them, so that devotees have extra

weight to back up what they are saying when they propose improvements in

different areas. Below is a short excerpt.

 

I hope you'll enjoy the article -- it also contains a link to a nice

article by Prema Bhakti dasa and his wife Tapati dasi, in which they

propose a "cow tax" very similar to what Madhava Gosh has be advocating

for some time.

 

your servant,

 

Hare Krsna dasi

 

MONITORING AND RECORDS

 

1. The entire herd should be counted daily. This principle was

established by Lord Krsna Himself. Srila Jiva Gosvami recounts, "When

Krsna calls out 'Hey Dhavali (the name of a white cow),' a whole group

of white cows come forward, and when He calls 'Hamsi, Candani, Ganga,

Mukta and so on, the twenty-four other groups of white cows come... Thus

being called by name, the cows are coming forward, and Krsna, thinking

that when it is time to bring them back from the forest none should be

forgotten, is counting them on His jewel-beads." (cited Srimad

Bhagavatam 10.35.18-19) Daily counting is a safeguard to protect cows

that may be lost, injured or even stolen.

 

2. Every cow should have a name. This principle was also established by

Krsna. As Srila Prabhupada describes, "The cows, oh, as soon as they see

Krsna, they become... They lick up His face and body, and every cow has

got a different name. As soon as He will call, the cow will come

immediately and dropping milk." (Lecture - New York, 5 Dec 1966) Unless

every cow has a name, it will not be possible to be sure they are all

cared for properly.

 

3. Records should be kept with the name, sex, date of birth of each cow.

When a cow or calf dies, the cause of death and date of death should be

recorded. Annual records should be provided to members each year.

 

4. Calf mortality should be less than 10%. In the absence of proper

records, this can be determined retroactively by seeing how many cows

have been milking in the last 2 3 years and determining how many of

their calves are still alive.

 

5. Analyzed by sex, the herd should be approximately 50% cows, 50% bulls

or oxen. If there are far more females than males, it is usually a sign

of a discrepancy - either in the organization's incomplete understanding

of cow protection, or in substandard protection for bull calves.

 

6. Any cow who has taken shelter on Krsna's land or in Krsna's temple

should never be subsequently sold, traded, given away or killed. A cow

protection program should not participate in grazing beef cows destined

for slaughter on its land. No temple should practice "borrowing" a bull

calf from a commercial dairy and then returning it after a ceremony

(such as Govardhana Puja), since that means the animal will eventually

be killed.

 

BREEDING AND AQUIRING COWS

 

7. No cow should be bred for milk production alone, without plans for

the resulting calf. No cow should be bred unless there is a clear and

concrete plan for the care of the calf for its entire life, which may be

10-20 years. This means there must be adequate land, adequate funding

and adequate trained personnel to care for the resulting calf.

 

8. Cows should not be acquired based on sentiment alone. A goshalla

should not allow itself to be exploited by those who "donate" animals

with mixed motives. Teijas dasa recounted that Srila Prabhupada did not

want devotees to accept cows just because someone wanted to give them

away, "Prabhupada told us not to take any more donations of cows unless

the person gave a donation of 5,000 rupees to cover the maintenance of

the cow. He said, 'Our business is not to take old cows.' You know, they

have a good sentiment plus an ulterior motive mixed together. Sentiment

plus some motive. So it doesn't come out to be the varnasrama system."

(ISKCON Farm Newsletter Vol. 2, No. 1, 1983) A responsible goshalla

should not accept more animals than it can care for, simply out of

sentiment.

 

9. Milking should be a pleasurable experience for the cow. "The milk bag

was so fatty and full with milk. Why? Muda - they were so happy. They

were so happy. So if you keep the cows happy, then cow will supply large

quantity of milk. " (Lecture SB 1.10.4, London 25 Nov 1973) No painful

or unhealthy method should be used to stimulate milk production.