Bulls - Comfort for the Cows

[Guest guest]

Sankar Prabhu,

 

A good rule of thumb is that whenever you have any question of how to

take care of Krsna's cows and bulls, always refer first of all to Srila

Prabhupada's instructions from tenth canto of the Srimad Bhagavatam:

 

His (Krsna's) first business is to give all comfort to the cows and the

brahmanas. In fact, comfort for the brahmanas is secondary, and comfort

for the cows is his first concern.

--Srimad Bhagavatam 10.8.16 purport

 

The essence is that we should follow Krsna's standard. Within the

bounds of safety, we should strive for the "comfort of the cows."

 

In fact, for an un-castrated bull, you will need to have a vet put in a

nose ring. (Others will tell you whether a rope could also be used.)

 

However, the central reason why people pierce the nose of a castrated

bull (an ox) is brute ignorance. It puts the animal through unnecessary

pain and inconvenience which will last the rest of his life and is not

necessary if he is properly trained.

 

One country which uses many oxen is Cuba. To make up for petroleum

shortage, they employ hundreds of thousands of oxen. However, they use

mostly nose rings and nose ropes. I read an article in Small Farmer's

Journal which pointed out that when amateurs try to work these oxen,

they sometimes accidentally pull the nose ring out. Then the bull is

then sent to slaughter so they can at least use his meat.

 

Piercing the nose is painful to the animal and should not be done

unnecessarily. In the Mahabharata Bhismadeva even states that those who

pierce the noses of bulls will have to go to hell. Practically

speaking, I'm not sure how one could control an uncastrated bull without

piercing its nose, but again, this shows that the animals should not be

put through pain when it is not necessary.

 

Although piercing the nose of oxen is practiced in many cultures around

the world, here in New England, the method is to use Vermont Voice

Commands for oxen. These commands are traditional and have been used

for hundreds of years. The leading ox-power training expert, Drew

Conroy explains them in his defininitive work "Oxen - a Teamsters Guide"

published by Rural Heritage.

 

However, the best source of information on training oxen with voice

commands was written by ISKCON's own Minister of Agriculture,

Paramananda Prabhu in the 1980's. That manual called "Ox Power -- Ki

Jaya!" is available for your free use on the ISKCOWP website

www.iscowp.com under the Resources section.

 

Some people claim that it is too difficult to train oxen using Vermont

Voice commands. However, this is the method widely used by New England

traditional farmers. Even children in the local 4-H agriculture clubs

train their ox teams using Vermont Voice commands. In state fair

competition, the child is permitted to use only a small stick to control

his or her team. They are forbidden to use any type of rope attached to

the animals -- neither through the nose, nor even attached to the

halter. I have seen many 8-10 year old boys and girls controlling their

teams in this way. For the most expert children, usually around 12-16

years old, they have trained their teams to be completely "broke to the

word" (as Paramananda describes), and they win blue ribbons because they

make their teams perform manuevers without even tapping them with a

stick. They are controlled by voice only.

 

Thus, as a team becomes better and better trained, their comfort level

while working is constantly increasing. Whereas, even a well trained

team using nose ropes can still be hurt by an amateur handler.

 

Another important feature of Paramananda's "Ox Power -- Ki Jaya!" is

that it shows how to make comfortable neck yokes for the oxen. I am

often embarrased to see the awkwardly constructed neck yokes on ISKCON

oxen in various photos. A well made yoke not only provides more comfort

for the oxen, but also scientific research by Paul Starkey, Jean Nolle

and other experts has proven that oxen can pull longer and harder when

their equipment is built with their comfort as a chief criteria in

design.

 

your servant,

 

Hare Krsna dasi

 

 

S S wrote:

 

> One HK devotee and another aspiring devotee are

> telling me that bulls need nose rings in addition to

> castration. Is it necessary or can we get away with a

> rope through the nose (like they do in India) or

> around the nose? If some ome like Balabhdraji can

> answer this we will be grateful, since we plan to

> train two oxen here. Thank you! Sankar

>

>

>

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