MOTHER MILD: WHY WE MUST PROTECT OUR COWS

Holy Cow! We’ve all heard that expletive enough times, but what on earth is holy about a cow? To find that out, we need to go to India.

In the Indian villager’s agrarian lifestyle, conserving natural resources is an integral part of daily existence. He uses nature’s gifts directly to manufacture all his necessities, from his mud hut dwelling to his home-spun clothes. But the most important feature of village conservation is protecting cows. Each homestead keeps at least one cow, and the animal is considered the most useful of all domestic beasts. In fact both cow and bull are seen as indispensable in rural India, in other words to 90% of the country’s population. Eating only grass, which costs nothing to produce, the cow in turn produces milk that provides nearly all the nutrients we need. One cow produces more milk than a whole family can drink in one day. What is not drunk is turned into yoghurt, cheese, butter and ghee (butterfat) – the latter being the basis for so many exquisite Indian sweetmeats and savouries.

Because she supplies milk, the cow is accepted as our mother in Indian culture, and therefore worthy of reverence. How many babies are raised on the milk of mother cow?

In India it is well known that even the faeces of the cow has antiseptic properties (it’s true). Furthermore, in any Indian village you will see cow pats drying in the sun, ready to be used as fuel for cooking. Cow urine is prescribed in Ayurveda as a medicine, and when the cow finally dies she gives her skin for shoes and bags, and her horns for other implements.

The majestic bull can be seen in Indian fields, pulling the plough. Slower than tractors, maybe, but he does not compact the soil and reduce its productivity like other mechanical methods. Nor does such ploughing kill so many earth dwelling creatures. And of course, the more we use machinery in the place of working animals like the ox, then the more we become encumbered with the need for so many subsidiary industries to make and maintain those machines. Add up the man-hours and resources taken by these industries and the ox starts looking a lot more efficient than we might at first think.

The bull is used more or less everywhere in India, and he is therefore seen as a father, working hard to produce man’s food. And as a father he too is considered worthy of reverence.

There is a symbiotic relationship between men and cows. If we take good care of them, ensuring they are sheltered, fed and protected, they happily produce more than enough milk for their calves, and we can take the excess without harming them in any way.

The Bhagavad-gita, sometimes called the ‘Hindu Bible’, gives cow protection the status of a religious principle. Based upon this principle, the Krishna consciousness movement is developing farming communities around the world. One such is Bhaktivedanta Manor, in Hertfordshire, where they currently keep 19 cows and 14 oxen. The results of the gentle Vedic method are evident there, where the cows peacefully produce first class milk that has won many prizes at local shows. One cow produced milk for many years without even being calved!

The cow and bull are the only basis of a sustainable agrarian economy. The Krishna consciousness movement aims to demonstrate this, and how it is more efficient than our current Western system of farming. In charge of the Bhaktivedanta Manor farm is Shyama-sundara das, who says, "One man can easily maintain himself and his family with a single cow and an acre or two of land."

Idealistic? Shyama-sundara points to the immense amount of land now turned over to grazing livestock for meat. "One kg of beef protein requires 20 kgs of vegetable protein as feed. In the same period of time, an acre of land will produce 300 kgs of vegetable protein, or 20 kgs of meat. What makes more sense?"

For more information about Bhaktivedanta Manor’s cow protection programme contact them on 01923 854270, or visit www.krishnatemple.com

Eating only grass, which costs nothing to produce, the cow in turn produces milk that provides nearly all the nutrients we need.

The cow and bull are the only basis of a sustainable agrarian economy

There is a symbiotic relationship between men and cows.

One kg of beef protein requires 20 kgs of vegetable protein as feed. In the same period of time, an acre of land will produce 300 kgs of vegetable protein, or 20 kgs of meat.

Copyright © Bhaktivedanta Manor 2008
UK Headquarters of the International Society for Krishna Consciousness
Founder-Acarya His Divine Grace A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada
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