Report

[Guest guest]

-

(Temple) Jaipur (India) <Jaipur (AT) pamho (DOT) net>

ISCOWP (Balabhadra Dasa & Chaya Dasi - USA) <ISCOWP (AT) pamho (DOT) net>

Tuesday, May 29, 2001 7:58 AM

report

 

 

> Dear Prabhus,

>

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

>

 

>

> Our idea in starting a goshalla, and this is something myself and

Pancartana

> (my partner) mulled over for many years, was to help in re-establishing

this

> particular breed which was/is on the verge of dying out. Our plan was to

> show a well run example of cow protection in action. Had we just wanted

> milk, it is much easier just to buy from the farmers all around us. Why

> bother with all the daily headaches of keeping animals?? But we have

found

> through the example Srila Prabhupada set and our own experience from being

> in India the last 15 years, that the Indians do take notice of what the

> foreigners do and many tend to become inspired to then go back and

> re-discover their own time tested and traditional practices. Many have

asked

> us why we're not keeping either foreign or mixed breeds. Once we explain

> that the desi breeds have qualities equal to and beyond the foreign breeds

> it's a source of inspiration to them. We have a few close friends who

have

> gone out and bought some of these animals for their own homes. They

wouldn't

> have even considered an Indian breed previously because of propaganda from

> the government and the "green revolution" scientisits etc., that the

Indian

> breeds were useless and gave less milk.

>

> This is all fallacy. The Jerseys and Holsteins do give a higher milk yield

> on paper, but if you compare the input over their lifespan, plus the

amount

> of medical attention they need in trying to cope with the conditions over

> here, you'll find that the local cows come out way in front. As I had

> written earlier, I have seen Tharparkars give more milk than other Indian

> breeds and more than buffalo's!! That's no mean feat. It depends on the

> feed, the conditions, and most of all on the care of the animal. Many

people

> here cannot understand that because the local cow is all mixed with

> whatever, then fed 4-5 kgs. of dry straw and a couple of left over

> chapatti's, then naturally you can only expect 1 litre of milk per day. I

> know of people with Holsteins who are also only getting 5-6 litres per

day.

>

> One of the advantages we have over here is that there are still many

people

> who will, and do, support cow protection. So in that sense we can cope

with

> less than the ideal amount of land. 73% of Indians still live in the

> villages and there is not one of those 73% who do not grow fodder, either

> for themselves or for the market.

>

> I read one letter the other day (I think it was on this conference) where

> someone had stated that it didn't matter at all what the cow was like,

> because it was the bull only which determined the sex of the offspring.

> This is not a fact. Both the bull and the cow combined determine the sex

of

> the calf. A doctor friend of ours who was in charge of the Chandan Farm

> Research Station in Jaiselmer (Rajasthan desert) and breeding Tharparkars

> there for 30 years, had told me way back that from their long history it

was

> dependent on the condition of both animals. From his experience as the cow

> grows older she tends to throw more bulls, but while still young there is

a

> greater ratio of cows. This I had also discussed with the Vice Chancellor

of

> the Rajasthan Agricultural University, who has been involved in breeding

> programmes with the local breeds for more than 20 years. He was of the

same

> opinion.

>

>

> Your servant,

> Ramanuja das

>

[Guest guest]

Dear Syamasundar,

 

Not having a laptop limits communacation. Iam at an outside stall for

interent connection and i will breifly describe events so far. When I left

home more details can be reported.

 

1) Vaisnava Rural Land Developement Committee proposal was verbally approved

by the GBC deputies and the chairman of the GBC, Ramai Swami. They feel it

is a good idea and we should just go ahead. When they can accually see what

we are proposing-when we can hand them a final document then they will

review for approval. They feel there is no need to supervise or control the

committee since they have the faith that the document will be sound as the

Minimum Cow Protection Standards was and is a viable well organized

document. So we have their confidence that we will come up with something

concrete and valuable.

 

2) We have expanded "STop the Over Breeding in Mayapur" to "Stop the Over

Breeding of cows in India". After visiting some ISKCON goshallas and

non-ISKCON goshallas in India it is noticeable that indiscrimate breeding of

cows in ISKCON goshallas is the pratice and cause of difficults as it was in

the west. Only in the west no one could give away their bulls and

unproductive cows and therefore the reality of over breeding "hit the fan"

sooner.

 

We are recommending that only indigenous breeds be bred for the Deity's milk

only. In Mayapur a bull runs freely with the herd and there is mostly

western breeds and cross breeds. In Vrindavan it is unclear the exact

breeding program-different reports from different persons. Also not all

quarterly reports have been given to the ministry. In Vrindavan they are

very overcrowded, and 5 calves were born just while we were there. The

condition of the calves were mostly fair with some in poor condition. Mixed

breeds and western breeds make poor oxen as they find it difficult to work

in the heat and they as well as the mixed breed cows have health problems do

to the Indian climate.

 

We are reinterating the ICC decision that no animals can be given away from

an ISKCON goshalla. "Shut the gates" so to speak. this alone will bring

into place the reality factor of breeding beyond what the goshalla is readly

to be responsible fo.

 

In response to economic deficit incurrerd from not having so much milk to

sell and still a large number of cows we have found cow urine and dung

products to be a source of revenue from both the productive cows as well

unproductive cows. In fact western breeds produce more dung. We visited

Rajasthan Goseva Sangh which was totally an amazing experience and a whole

report in itself. There we learned about the possibilitis of dung and urine

utilizations.

 

This proposal is now being reviewed. There are other aspects to it and I

will explain in the next e-mail. We are working on some internal temple

management improvements for the local goshallas.

 

More later.

Your Servant

Chayadevi

 

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