Livelihoods from the ox - Power units

[Guest guest]

A number of years ago thee was a very exciting picture in the BTG showing a

group of ten oxen turning a wood saw. This machine not only employed ten

oxen in meaningful and essential work it also used at least 3 persons. On

the hungarian farm thee is an ox power unit which is used to grind flour. At

Bhaktivedanta Manor there is a power unit which is used to roll grains (feed

for the milking cows and working oxen) and is set to grind grain for flour.

 

Such tools I would think are essential paraphernalia for any farming

situation. Not only do they employ oxen in meaningful work but they also can

itilise money better. At Bhaktivedanta Manor for example we save money on

bought grain by purchasing whole grain rather than already rolled. The money

saved is then reinvested in employiung a man who is working the oxen to roll

the grain. A bit of a cash saving but the main thing is that another pair of

oxen can be cost effectively used.

 

Why is it that in large farm communites there is nobody who has set up such

a gearing system to make money from milling flour. A large community means a

large amnount of persons who eat flour. Do they mill the flour themselves or

do they buy it already milled?. Today the general public are becoming more

health and safety conscious and thus there is a good potential market place

to sell organic produce farmed by proteced oxen.

 

Unless ox power becomes the basis of wealth or at least livelihood how is it

going to get off the ground. Generaly we can see in the present farming

system a significant number of farmers are not traders. They prefer to have

somebody buying their produce from them right off the land. They need

somebody else to discover the market and drive the value of their crops. The

ox power project is dependant on such dynamic traders (Vanijyam) to drive

the market and make a vacuun into which they can sell there produce. Unless

pioneers of ox powered buisnesses manifest the ox powered project will

remain in the domain of hobiists and pet keepers; good from the point of not

killing the animals and supporting the dairy side of cow protection, but not

good from the point of view of manifesting a way of life that any body can

live. Our own devotees are not seriously going to tke up ox pwer unless it

is livelihood based.

 

If somebody is making their living from work which is not dependant on the

ox then it is not a practical example of cow protection in the present time.

To await a time of apocalyptic desimation to force the ox power hand is

unrealistic. Modern man will not forget how to be modern. The secret (I

feal) is to demonstrate an alternate farming system that is financialy

atractive to its participants. The protected ox powered programmes can be at

the cutting edge of such a proposal. IF ISKCON does not manifest it then we

will see some other entrapeneurs doing it on the back of Srila Prabhupadas

philosophy.

 

Some food for thought

 

ys

syamasundara dasa