Farming for energy: Cow Power

[suchandra]

For years and years people all over Europe used to laugh about the Krishnas&their holy cow belief.

Times have changed and Krishna has tricked all those fools&rascals to stop laughing and suddenly consider the cow as potential candidate to replace their "holy" oil which they exploit from mother earth like goddamned madmen.

Scientists explain it now on TV, newspapers report it, Cowpower is in!

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http://www.green-trust.org/methane.htm

.....The dairy cows at Haubenschild Farms produce 22,000 gallons of manure a day. That manure, in turn, yields about 80,000 cubic feet of “biogas” a day — enough to generate 3,000 kilowatt hours of electricity. How does it happen? It is microbe magic.

 

 

http://www.eco-farm.org/sa/sa_dairy_synopsis_digester.html

 

Cow manure, together with recycled newspaper bedding, is scraped from the freestall barn three times a day, mixed to a smooth consistency, then pumped into a 350,000-gallon covered digester tank, which looks like a long white sausage.

 

There, the manure is heated to about 100 degrees F, speeding the action of beneficial bacteria in the tank. As bacteria break the manure down, they give off gas — mostly methane, which collects under the tank cover. After three weeks in the digester, the manure — now a lot less smelly — empties into a storage lagoon for later application to the farm’s 1,000 acres of cropland

 

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However, the materialists calculation of the total exploitation of Mother Cow and finally killing her just for sensegratification wont be tolerated by the laws of karma - karmic reactions will multiply.

Now the time has come for all devotees to strongly preach against the scrupelous murder of cows and not get caught in that joint guilt by keeping quiet.

 

Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Exploding_cow

 

[Pankaja_Dasa]

 

 

When I was in India 18 years ago [i was 10] an Uncle of mine showed me this in his house, at the time even though I had no clue what he was talking about. I was really shocked and impressed that cow dung could be used. Actually many of mine cousins do this. But later when they bought a new house, the opted for general electricity.!

 

The bigger the cow dung holes the better the output. You need the cows alive for it. In my house in India, the shower was right next to the cow dung hole, to tell you the truth I never minded it. I was 10 at the time, in fact I think it was sort of purifying. Cow dung!

[protectacow]

Pray for Our Mother, who freely gives us her milk and Cow Power even though she is on "death row".........

 

Thanks Suchandra,

i have hesitated giving this news below, because the Cows for this program are "culled" when they are deemed unusefull by the cow killers. But just to show that the system of generating electricity works well in other places here it is.........

 

 

CVPS Cow Power™ - Providing renewable

 

energy one cow at a time.

 

CVPS Cow Power™ links farms, renewables and customers

 

Central Vermont Public Service customers who want to support renewable energy and Vermont dairy farms have a new energy choice – CVPS Cow Power™. The Vermont Public Service Board has approved CVPS Cow Power™, which is intended to help promote development and reliance on renewable energy in Vermont by creating a market for energy generated by burning methane from cow manure.

 

By enrolling in CVPS Cow Power™, customers will help support Vermont dairy farms that develop generators that run on methane from cow manure, renewable generation in the region, or incentives to farmers to get into the business.

 

Customers who sign up will receive a free "Energy Happens" bumper sticker to show their support for farming, the environment and renewable energy!

 

In addition to PSB approval, CVPS Cow Power™ has received the Vermont Agency of Agriculture, Food and Markets’ Commissioner’s Choice Seal of Quality. CVPS Cow Power™ will be offered to customers for energy used starting Sept. 1, and bills rendered Oct. 1, but customers can sign up now. Want more information? Check out our Frequently Asked Questions.

 

Customers may choose to buy 25 percent, 50 percent, or all of their electricity through CVPS Cow Power™. Customers who choose CVPS Cow Power™ will be charged an extra 4 cents per kilowatt-hour. Customers using 500 kWh per month who choose to receive 25 percent of their power under the Cow Power rider would pay only $5 a month more. At 100 percent, the charge would be $20 per month.

 

For every kilowatt-hour requested by customers and provided by a Vermont farm, CVPS will pay the farmer the market price for energy plus the CVPS Cow Power™ charge of 4 cents for the environmental benefits of the energy.

 

Blue Spruce Farm in Bridport is the first farm to provide energy through CVPS Cow Power™, although several other farms are investigating the program. Blue Spruce has 1,500 cattle, enough to produce 1.75 million kWh a year

 

 

[Gauracandra]

There is a lot to be said for having a decentralized energy system. I have heard about these manure digesters before. I remember reading that the average cow wil produce like 100 pounds of manure per day. So even a small farm with 100 cows has to find a suitable way to dispose of 10,000 pounds of manure every single day (or 3,650,000 pounds per year). Unfortunately I don't really know how much a kilowatt hour is. Would 1 cow provide all the cooking gas needs of a family?

 

Back to the decentralized aspect. First it provides greater safety especially in today's environment. Because the energy is locally produced there is a diffused threat. Second, it is good for a local economy. The cost for an individual might be higher but if individuals spend their money on locally made energy it cycles through the local economy several times ie. $1 might be cycled through the community 3 or 4 times, thus the cost is actually reduced by 1/3 or 1/4 on a community level. Finally, we don't often think about it, but our cities beneath our feet have thousands, if not millions of miles of pipes to transport water, gas, sewage. Its actually a rather infrastructure heavy system that must take resources just to be maintained.

 

Compare this to say a septic tank for sewage, or a well for water. Its decentralized so almost no threat from Al Qaeda etc..., it has virtually no major infrasture to be maintained.

[Guest guest]

Poster: Gauracandra

Re: Decentralized Energy

 

There is a lot to be said for having a decentralized energy system. I have heard about these manure digesters before. I remember reading that the average cow wil produce like 100 pounds of manure per day. So even a small farm with 100 cows has to find a suitable way to dispose of 10,000 pounds of manure every single day (or 3,650,000 pounds per year). Unfortunately I don't really know how much a kilowatt hour is. Would 1 cow provide all the cooking gas needs of a family?

 

Back to the decentralized aspect. First it provides greater safety especially in today's environment. Because the energy is locally produced there is a diffused threat. Second, it is good for a local economy. The cost for an individual might be higher but if individuals spend their money on locally made energy it cycles through the local economy several times ie. $1 might be cycled through the community 3 or 4 times, thus the cost is actually reduced by 1/3 or 1/4 on a community level. Finally, we don't often think about it, but our cities beneath our feet have thousands, if not millions of miles of pipes to transport water, gas, sewage. Its actually a rather infrastructure heavy system that must take resources just to be maintained.

 

Compare this to say a septic tank for sewage, or a well for water. Its decentralized so almost no threat from Al Qaeda etc..., it has virtually no major infrasture to be maintained.

-------------------------------

 

 

The reason why I started this thread was a documentation on TV about a village, Juehnde, in Germany who unconnected to common electric utility due the fact they produce all the energy requirements on their own. There live about 800 villagers and with 800 cows and 1400 pigs they produce enough heat, electricity, and gas to maintain the whole village. The project was developped by the University of Goettingen over a periode of three years and the government sponsored about 3 MIO US Dollars for the authoring process. Of course the huge energy companies will spent billions to immediately get control on that technology to produce biogas and in sum at the end people will have to pay even more if the use renewable energy.

 

[suchandra]

above is my post, just forgot to log in.

[protectacow]

The following is from this page, click this link A sealed water-tight circular pit, normally about ten feet deep, is made of concrete to which manure (from cows, buffalos and other livestock) is added regularly. As far as adding human waste to the mix, even though bacteria is killed in the combustion process, it is generally not done. Alternate materials may be used for constructing this pit as desired. A wall is built across the middle of the pit, extending from the bottom almost to the top.

 

The manure is mixed with water in the intake basin which flows thru the piping to the bottom of the left side. This side of the cylinder gradually fills and overflows to the right side. When both sides of the cylinder are full, the manure effluent flows out from the bottom of the right side each time more raw manure is added to the left.

 

Manure residue from the decomposition process comes out in a concentrated form and is used for fertilizer. What comes out on the right is of more value as fertilizer than the raw manure. So the methane gas produced from this decomposition is an added byproduct which is literally "something for nothing," after the initial construction expense.

 

The concoction produces methane which rises to the top and collects under a large metal dome As the gas builds pressure it is routed via a rubber tube to a gas stove in a kitchen where it is used for cooking.

 

India is a leader in gobar gas technology, and there are perhaps hundreds of thousands of gobar gas plants in India.

 

Please read the following related articles for further information: Gobar Gas Methane Experiments in India

 

Proposal to Generate Compressed Gobar Gas

 

Updating Biogas (Gobar) Technology

 

[Guest guest]

Fox News had a report today where the state of Washington has been experimenting with manure power. Native Americans, environmentalists, and dairy farmers got together to lobby the state government to subsidize the activity. It costs about 3 times the price of regular electricity but has subsidiary benefits such as no pollution to the rivers and support for the local economy.

[Guest guest]

Washington State [re: protectacow]

02/09/06 12:10 AM Edit Reply

 

Fox News had a report today where the state of Washington has been experimenting with manure power. Native Americans, environmentalists, and dairy farmers got together to lobby the state government to subsidize the activity. It costs about 3 times the price of regular electricity but has subsidiary benefits such as no pollution to the rivers and support for the local economy.

_

 

By now the National Energy Research Fund [NERF] woke up and has presented their calculation about the loss when farmers/villagers would start to produce their own electricity/heat/gas instead of buying from regular national electricity suppliers. And how could it be otherwise, made a law that enforces technical constituents of the biogas construction which they hold the monopoly at an exorbitant price. While in India they have hundred of thousands such renewable energy producers.

When Indian people install this everywhere why it is suddenly three times more expensive in the States? Thats

cheating - as usual, demons at work.

"A simple apparatus can be constructed to produce bio-gas...http://greentrust.server300.com/methane.htm

 

[Gauracandra]

Protect A Cow,

 

Can you give some numbers of what an ideal cow protection program would look like?

 

For instance, if you had a community of 500 devotees:

 

1) How many cows (& equal number of bulls) would be needed to provide the milk for the devotees with a cow only getting pregnant twice in their life (ie. maintaining population parity). What I'm wondering is assume an old cow, a middle age cow, a newly born cow, so the full spectrum of a population of cows.

 

2) How much milk can a cow give immediately after birth and for how many years?

 

3) How many acres would be necessary to provide most of the grasses a cow would need to eat and walk around?

 

4) What is the estimated cost to take care of a cow by year?

 

I think cow protection must first be viewed as seva. It can never be done trying to make money because the economics just don't work. However, I would imagine one could structure a system, if the infrastructure was in place (acreage, barns etc...) to be self-maintaining.

[Kulapavana]

"When Indian people install this everywhere why it is suddenly three times more expensive in the States? Thats

cheating - as usual, demons at work."

 

no cheating involved. just the high cost of labor here in US. also, Indians dont mind smelly contraptions in their back yards, and getting their hands dirty working with fermented manure. not so with the Americans.

 

[protectacow]

Protect A Cow,

 

Can you give some numbers of what an ideal cow protection program would look like?

 

For instance, if you had a community of 500 devotees:

 

1) How many cows (& equal number of bulls) would be needed to provide the milk for the devotees with a cow only getting pregnant twice in their life (ie. maintaining population parity).

 

2) How much milk can a cow give immediately after birth and for how many years?

 

3) How many acres would be necessary to provide most of the grasses a cow would need to eat and walk around?

 

4) What is the estimated cost to take care of a cow by year?

 

I think cow protection must first be viewed as seva. It can never be done trying to make money because the economics just don't work. However, I would imagine one could structure a system, if the infrastructure was in place (acreage, barns etc...) to be self-maintaining.

 

 

 

Are you familiar with A C Bhaktivedanta Swami's books,letters and conversations? Since all of these questions are answered there.

 

the numbers are similar from 5 to 500! Just multiplied 100 times. And 5 is much more reasonable so lets use that!

 

One Protected Cow (actually protected to deity standards) can give milk for years, and years, i have seen a few milk past 10 years happily, but all those were using standards as high as one may use for the deity in the temple. And those doing the Protecting had the complete trust of the Protected. So a family of 5 can get by with one cow, and that cow would have one calf for that lactation.

 

A cow can give up to about 100 pounds when "fresh". But that is a cow that is protected as mentioned above and lives with lush grasses, and is the larger type, (holstein, brown swiss etc.) This amount will slowly taper off to 18 months, where she will stay more steady at around 20 pounds or 2 gallons.

 

It is good to have around 1 acre of land per cow.

 

Your last question of cost would have to be figured according to place, land and many more variables.

 

click on the below links for our Founder/Acharya's full quotes on these subjects........

.... if the cow is protected, given right nutritious food and protection, cow will supply you milk so long she lives. As long as she lives .

 

That is our mission: Cow protection and agriculture and if there is excess, trade.

 

Our cows are happy, therefore they give plenty of milk.

 

Lord Krsna as Govinda is more inclined to the brahmanas and the cows, indicating thereby that human prosperity depends more on these two items, namely brahminical culture and cow protection. Lord Krsna is never satisfied where these are lacking.

 

 

 

[protectacow]

protectedcow

[protectacow]

Room Conversation

Bhubaneshwar, January 31, 1977

 

Prabhupada: And therefore I'm asking. Potential is wonderful, so why they are not attracted to live in the farm and be self-independent and chant Hare Krsna? That is our farm project. Our farm project is they should be satisfied with simple living. That is nice living. If you get milk, if you get fruit, if you get grain and open air, it is very healthy life. Why they should not be attracted?

 

And other things--very simple: little milk, little food grain, little vegetable, that's all. And that is very nice. If you get fresh vegetable, fresh milk, and food grain, what do you want more?

[Gauracandra]

"So a family of 5 can get by with one cow, and that cow would have one calf for that lactation."

 

Are you suggesting that every family should have 1 cow? I would think that would be far more milk than needed for a family and unlikely they would have the expertise needed.

 

[protectacow]

Most of my "ideas" regarding Protecting Cows are not my ideas at all , but rather brought to us from Lord Krishna through the Founder/Acharya of the International Society for Krishna Consciousness, are you familiar?

 

And in my above reply, i informed you that for the first few months the cow would give a lot, but after that "fresh" period, she would give about 2 gallons. 2 gallons for a family of 5 is not that much, considering the ghee, yogurt, curd etc. that you could make. Show a little mercy, protect your Mother!

 

<font color="blue">Krishna Book chapter six excerpt: When the gopis saw little Krsna fearlessly playing on Putana's lap, they very quickly came and picked Him up. Mother Yasoda, Rohini, and other elderly gopis immediately performed the auspicious rituals by taking the tail of a cow and circumambulating His body. The child was completely washed with the urine of a cow, and the dust created by the hooves of the cows was thrown all over His body. This was all just to save little Krsna from future inauspicious accidents. This incident gives us a clear indication of how important the cow is to the family, society and to living beings in general. The transcendental body of Krsna did not require any protection, but to instruct us on the importance of the cow, the Lord was smeared over with cow dung, washed with the urine of a cow, and sprinkled with the dust upraised by the walking of the cows. </font color>

 

See entire chapter six of Krishna book here........

[protectacow]

<font color="blue"> By His personal example Lord Krishna wanted to teach us the value of protecting cows. Nanda Maharaja is said to have possessed nine hundred thousand cows, and at the time of Lord Sri Krsna (about five thousand years ago) the tract of land known as Vrndavana was flooded with milk and butter. Therefore God's gifted professions for mankind are agriculture and cow protection ............. </font color>

 

from our Position Paper> "The Light of the Bhagavat".....click this link to read much much more on the importance according to Lord Krishna and A.C.Bhaktivedanta Swami........

 

The protection of cows, therefore, is not merely a religious sentiment but a means to secure the highest benefit for human society.

[vijay]

Heres another a cow at bhaktivedanta manor that continues to give milk.

 

http://www.krishnatemple.com/homepage_extras/july2005_newsbulletin.shtm

 

"Draupadi the cow, born at Bhaktivedanta Manor is six years old this year. Three and a half years ago she gave birth to a male calf. Just after a cow gives birth, usually that is the time when a her milk yield is the highest. Then, one year after than, the yield naturally decreases. However, Gaura prabhu of the goshalla department explained that in Draupadi's case something remarkable has happened: "Her milk yield has actually been increasing! Today she is providing the temple with no less than 17 litres a day. It's a small miracle!" Gaura then described Draupadi's character: "She is a very healthy and strong cow, and therefore sometimes aggressive. That is perhaps why this year all the cows in the barn have accepted her as the new head, even though she younger than many of the others."

[protectacow]

Room Conversation

Bhubaneshwar, January 31, 1977........................................................................................Prabhupada: And therefore I'm asking. Potential is wonderful, so why they are not attracted to live in the farm and be self-independent and chant Hare Krsna? That is our farm project. Our farm project is they should be satisfied with simple living. That is nice living. If you get milk, if you get fruit, if you get grain and open air, it is very healthy life. Why they should not be attracted?

 

And other things--very simple: little milk, little food grain, little vegetable, that's all. And that is very nice. If you get fresh vegetable, fresh milk, and food grain, what do you want more?

 

 

 

I will have to speculate the answer to these questions Srila Prabhupada....................

 

... first perhaps your followers do not have the faith in you, and Krishna to do as you instruct? Perhaps it is because they do not like "simple living", and want to have a nice car, tv, radio, satellite service, store bought food, fancy cloths, nice house in a fancy neighborhood? Perhaps they are just trapped by the maya of these things and can not think of a way to escape? Perhaps they think that you and Krishna are just influenced by "gandi" or Nanda Maharaja? Perhaps they are just more into "high living and simple thinking"?

Perhaps they are influenced by their parents or peers, or institutionalized religions gone bad? There could be many many reasons i guess?

 

But one thing is for sure Srila Prabhupada, you and Krishna by your examples and teaching/instructions have given them many many chances to do the right thing. And if they think it is "ok" to just keep going on for ever this way, for ever, without protecting their own mother, and father in the shape of the Cow and Bull, either by supporting those who are Protecting our 4 legged parents or by doing so themselves, while taking the benefits of these parents, someday soon they will reap the Karma of this selfish act, is'nt that right?

 

<font color="blue"> Srimad Bhagavatam Canto 1 Chapter 10 Verse 4......................excerpt from purport......................It is said here that the cows used to moisten the pasturing land with milk because their milk bags were fatty and the animals were <font color="black">joyfull. </font color> Do they not require, therefore, <font color="black">proper protection for a joyful life </font color>by being fed with a sufficient quantity of grass in the field? <font color="black"> Why should men kill cows for their selfish purposes? </font color> Why should man not be satisfied with grains, fruits and milk, which, combined together, can produce hundreds and thousands of palatable dishes. Why are there slaughterhouses all over the world to kill innocent animals?[/ </font color>

 

As a supporter of Cow Protection and only a Webservant of Protectacow, i beg the forgiveness for these speculations, and they are not official Protectacow statements, just my own thoughts as servant of the Cow Herd Boys/Girls.

[protectacow]

Prabhupada: Yes. That I want. I... Everywhere I go and say, how these rascals...? So much land is lying, and these rascals are not developing. And they are making... What is that? Coal stone. Coal. They are interested with these bricks and stones, not green vegetables. Such a rascal government. Give them facility. We know how to do it. Annad bhavanti bhutani parjanyad anna-sambhavah, yajnad bhavati parjanyah. Let them engage in kirtana. There will be more water for gardening, and it will be moist, and then produce fodder for the animals and food for you. And animal gives you milk. That is Vrndavana life. And they are absorbed in this so-called opulence. Krsna has taken birth. They are bringing so many nice, pleasant foodstuff, very well-dressed and ornamented. These are description. In the morning we were reading. How they were happy, the inhabitants of Vrndavana with Krsna and living and cows. That I want to introduce. At any cost do it and... Don't bother about big, big buildings. It is not required. Useless waste of time. Produce. Make the whole field green. See that. Then whole economic question solved. Then you eat sumptuous. Eat sumptuously. The animal is happy. The animal even does not give milk; let them eat and pass stool and urine. That is welcome. After all, eating, they will pass stool. So that is beneficial, not that simple milk is beneficial. Even the stool is beneficial. Therefore I am asking so much here and..., "Farm, farm, farm, farm..." That is not my program--Krsna's program. Annad bhavanti bhutani. Produce greenness everywhere, everywhere. Vrndavana. It is not this motorcar civilization. Prabhupada: How they were happy, the inhabitants of Vrndavana with Krsna and living and cows. That I want to introduce. At any cost do it

[suchandra]

Exclusion of Holy Cows from Alleghany Village

BY: JYOTIRMOY DATTA /images/graemlins/smile.gif

 

 

The Voiths, with calves Radhe and Shyama

 

Feb 16, ANGELICA, NY (DESI TALK) — Hidden from the outside world by the Alleghany Mountains, the picturesque Village of Angelica in western New York is the scene of a test of American's traditional religious tolerance, a test reminiscent of the earlier struggles of religious groups such as the Amish, the Mormons and Jehova's Witnesses to find a place in the nation's multifaith quilt.

 

Elevations range to over 2,000 feet in the hills that surround Angelica and feed a stream that makes its way past the village to the nearby Genesee River.

 

Attracted by its charms, American Hindu couple Linda and Stephen Voith chose to make it their home, complete with their children and their hooved family members - the cows, Chintamani, Radhe, Shyam, et al, named after characters of Hindu song and legend.

 

Stephen and Linda Voith and their children are followers of the Bhakti Hindu Tradition brought to America by AC Bhaktivedanta Swami, Prabhupada in 1965.

 

Srila Prabhupada instructed his followers to find ways and means to inaugurate the Hindu tradition of protecting cows in America, because without protection of the cow, Brahminical culture cannot be maintained.

 

Their neighbors, however, were taken aback by their treatment of the animals, whom the Voiths treated as if they were on the same footing as humans. The Village got an injunction expelling Chintamani and her brood from Angelica.

 

The family's attorney, Ross Scott, told Desi Talk that the Voiths were denied Due Process and their right to a fair trial in 2003 when State Supreme Court Judge Michael Nenno refused to allow them to raise a First Amendment defense and dismissed the family's counterclaims against the Village for deprivation of religious rights.

 

Scott, 68, an attorney who had worked for the government as a defense analyst till his retirement 11 years ago, said that he was appearing for the Voiths pro bono because he felt that the values that he had helped to defend from foreign enemies were at risk from insidious enemies at home. The judge did not allow even the mention of the word religion at the hearing on May 2 and 7, 2003. Judge Nenno said "if he heard one word about religion, he will hold be in contempt of court."

 

"The Village of Angelica has no objection to the Amish going through the town on their buggies, or tying up their horses and stopping, but the Voiths were harassed for their oxen cart crossing a 10-foot lane," Scott said. "The former mayor, among others, seemed intent on running the Voiths out of the village for just their odd way of treating their animals."

 

Scott said that they filed an appeal with the State Supreme Court, Appelate Division, in Rochester. His main brief had been filed on Dec. 16, the Village brief on Dec. 20, and his answering brief has tobe filed by Jan. 25.

 

The opening oral hearing was set for April 3. He was convinced of winning the appeal because the Voiths were "well within the local law which says that if your property comprises 10 acres or more, you can have as many farm animals as you like."

 

The Voiths, however, were regarding their appeal as a return to battle for their religious rights, not just a reassertion of their compliance with local laws. "We are trying to show an example of a simple Vedic lifestyle centering on nonviolence and the sanctity of all life," Linda Voith, told Desi Talk. "Our practices are meant to show a humane, responsible example of cow protection."

 

 

"The Village allows a beef farm to operate right across the street from our home," says Steven Voith, "If they allow cows for secular reasons within the Village, they should allow religiously revered cows too."

 

 

Chintamani, the Voiths's mother Jersey cow, came from an organic dairy near Ithaca NY. The Voiths say on their Website: ''She was pregnant when we bought her in 1999, and the next spring, she gave birth to the twins, Radhe and Shyama. We boarded her for 19 months at the beef farm that is across from our home. During her stay at the farm, she was bred by one of the farmer's bulls, and that is how we came to get Bheema, who is black and fuzzy, resembling a teddy bear when he wears his red halter. The most recent addition to our cow family is Krishna Preeya, Chintamani's latest calf, who is a plush, brown, Highlander/Jersey mix. We also have one goat named Roy, who was given to our daughter Kaitlin on her birthday, by a local woman who raises dairy goats.''

 

Stephen has been to India several times, and has two adopted children from Bengal, Christopher and Samantha. Linda has been trained as a Compost Educator, by Cornell Cooperative Extension in Ithaca NY, and is currently working towards a certification in The Bridge and Target Animal Training System, while training the family's cows and oxen.

_______

 

Prabhupada explaining how to construct an inexpensive cart which lasts forever

 

 

[protectacow]

Yes this above story is very nice. The Voiths have done huge preaching how the sub chapter of being a Hindu as a Hare Krishna means that you are a Cow Protector. This is the FUNdamental position of a Krishna Devotee!

 

Stephen and Linda Voith and their children are followers of the Bhakti Hindu Tradition brought to America by AC Bhaktivedanta Swami, Prabhupada in 1965.

 

 

 

This story has made it around the whole world, and not once have they been connected to any bad cults, where illegal crimes have been committed. This story is all about the Right to practise Krishna Bhakti, and to do so, one has to be able to Protect Cows. That is their FUNdamental Right and Position.

 

click this link to go directly to another great Cow Protector for Srila Prabhupada.........>Srila Prabhupada instructed his followers to find ways and means to inaugurate the Hindu tradition of protecting cows in America, because without protection of the cow, Brahminical culture cannot be maintained.

 

and click this link to view the first article written about Prabhupada in America 1965 (results of Protectacow's Spiritual Archeology Digging!)..................>Excerpt from article:" Life and Milk of Cow" is all-important to the Swamiji's way of life; all else is artificial, he claims.

[protectacow]

COW PROTECTION

 

In 1973, Europe's first Cow Protection Project was started at Bhaktivedanta Manor. As the name suggests, the cows are cared for during their entire lives. The programme aims to show how cows and bulls living in a cruelty-free environment will give milk and do agricultural work and transport.

 

The Cow Protection Project is set within the Bhaktivedanta Manor's estate of 77 acres. From the shelter of the cow barns the cows wander each day into the pastures and woodlands to graze. Their lives are natural and carefree, under the devotional farm management and congregational community.

 

There are currently almost 30 oxen (bulls) in the herd, with an annual increase of 3 calves per year. The breeding schedule will eventually reach a plateau of about 60 animals. About 7 cows give 20,000 litres of milk a year. The newborn calves drink to their fill for about 10 to 12 days, and then, when they start to nibble grass, they are pastured separately from their mums but still get their milk twice a day. After 5 or 6 months, they no longer need daily milk.

 

Our bulls really begin their productive life when they reach age three, at which time they are trained to plough and to pull carts and equipment. Being naturally muscular and strong they thrive when their power is put to practical use. Besides carting, they help pull the mowers and turners for hay-making. They also like to drive the gear system for making flour and rolling their own food. Ploughing is a special challenge for them because they have to walk in a very straight line, but with a bit of practice they easily master it. Sometimes they are invited to the local towns for carnivals and processions, and often they take the lead position. Each year thousands of children from across the country are enchanted by the oxen, as the kids are driven on a tour of the farm and grounds by an ox-wagon designed for this purpose.

 

The cows and oxen are a part of the life of the residents and guests of Bhaktivedanta Manor. The Manor offers an alternative, God-centred and natural life to anyone challenged by the complexities of modern life. In our care for the cows we recognise the economic challenges of maintaining such large animals in an environment of cheap food and in a country primarily non-vegetarian in diet. However, the cows produce an auspicious atmosphere of good fortune and mental satisfaction that is hard to value but can only be experienced.

 

The special, God-given symbiosis between cows and man is especially important and historically inseparable. We know that by pleasing the cows and bulls, humanity simultaneously pleases the Supreme Lord, Krishna.

We warmly invite you to visit the Bhaktivedanta Manor Cow Protection Project any day between 0900 and 1800, and if you want a guided tour, then watch for the open days.

 

If you want to bring some food for the cows, the suitable things are carrots, cabbages, potatoes, spinach and gur (jaggery-sugar). Please ensure that you ask a member of the farm staff before feeding the cows. (It is likely that you will be asked to feed only a token, the rest being put aside for later).

 

[Guest guest]

I want to start cow protection in the Chicago area any advice.

[Guest guest]

If you want to know about cow protection you should visit Rasala Prabhu, who protects cows across the street from the entrance to Gita Nagari farm, in Port Royal, Pennsylvania. He has developed a pasture management system for feeding the cows year round.