Improving our Cow Protection Programs

02-03-2003, 05:40 PM

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.