Train the Ox - ISCOWP

Volume 7 Issue 3 The International Society for Cow Protection Winter 1997

or the last 7 years we havepresented our members withan annual report at the end ofour fiscal year which ends

with the beginning of March. With this is-sue we carry on the tradition. One year af-ter we started ISCOWP, we saved ourteam Vraja and Gita from the slaughter-house. Traditionally we picture both orone (Vraja is pictured opposite) on thefront page of the annual report in celebra-tion of their birthdays in February. Theyare now 7 years old!

There was a large response to last is-sue’s letter section. One article, by Vana-mali Pandit about his boyhood in India,was written in response to letters about theposition of the bull in India. It gives factsthat coincide with Srila Prabhupada’s in-structions. We have continued with someof last issue’s letter topics in this issue andwill continue this theme in future issueswith the hope that the knowledge dis-tributed will educate all readers to a betterunderstanding of cow protection. Wethank all of you who responded. Pleasekeep the letters coming and if you don’tsee your letter, look in the next issue!

Inside This Issue

Letters From Around theWorld

page 2-4, 12-15

Growing Rice & Wheat atNew Talavan

page 5-

Annual Financial Report& Analysis

page 6-7

Annual Donor Listing page 8-9

Memories From My Boy-hood in India

page 10

ISCOWP Update page 11

Annual Report for Fiscal Year March, 1997 - February, 1998

Train the Ox

THE ISCOWP NEWS

LettersThe following letter was sent to us via La-

bangalatika dasi at the request of B.R. Thakur.

He has requested that we print the letter in the

ISCOWP News. As far as we know this letter,

sent to the Sunday Observer, Mumbai, India,

has not yet been printed in that publication.

Stop Cow Slaughter in

IndiaWith due respects and humble sub-

mission I beseech to ask only one simplequestion to Honorable Ahmadi Sahebthrough you, with an honest hope that hewill definitely reply to it through you oryour esteemed weekly.

In 1958, the Honorable SupremeCourt had to decide about over one hun-dred petitions placed before them by theProfessional Butchers of India. They hadsubmitted them on the grounds of Free-dom of Profession, allowed under articles14, 19 and 25 of the Constitution of India.They said they are butchers by professionfrom ages and dynasties uncountable sofar. They also said India is a secular stateand no religious dogmas can check themfrom running their profession in secularIndia. Hence they are free to slaughter anyanimal whether it be a cow or a bullock ora bull, whatsoever, and this they have todo and perform under their fundamentalrights of the Freedom of Profession in In-dia.

This created a problem before thishonorable team of the learned judges andas the matter was pending before them forabout 10 years, they had to decide it underpressures from various interested parties.So they very wisely found out a mid-way,a Golden mien, so that the butchers alsomay not lose their profession as their fun-damental right and the animals could alsobe saved to some extent, at least not to bewiped away altogether from India. Theysaid, cows after age of 14, when theydon’t give milk and become unfit for pro-creation, they may be slaughtered. Bul-locks after 16 become weak and old, theyremain unfit for draught and agriculturalpurposes, hence they and also bulls, whenthey become unfit for procreation, can beslaughtered.

Their lordships, being learned, they

used their logic on the basis of theirstudy of modern economics, where ani-mals, which eat more and give less inreturn are a drain over the Indian-exchequer, hence they can be slaugh-tered to bring considerable foreign-exchange through their skin, flesh,bones, blood and even other parts oftheir bodies for various industrial usagesunder modern technologies. The learnedjudges went a step ahead also to alloweven the disabled animals to be fit forslaughter. They totally forgot that underthe plea of disabilities, the professionaland merciless butchers will break thelegs and blind the eyes of the youngestof animals to use them for their slaugh-ter business, which is the most profit-earning business in India, where a livingcow is sold in Rs. 100/- each but whenslaughtered , it becomes a wealth worthRs. 2000/- then and there, such is themargin of profit in this trade.

The learned judges, mostly comingfrom the supreme class of people, wholead a secluded life much away from thelower standard of people, living amonganimals and dealing with animals, hencethey allowed the butchers to carry ontheir profession in the name of secular-ism in India. They could not foresee thatin India, veterinary doctors have to givea certificate of fitness for every animalto be slaughtered Rs 1/- or Rs. 2/- peranimal in the normal course; otherwise athreat of open knife over his head is alsoa normal scene in the Abattoirs. Heprefers to safeguard his person and alsoearn money under present circum-stances.

Over and above such situations,there are daily examples of Indian po-lice allowing hundreds of truck -loadsof cows and bullocks where butchersforce 40 to 50 animals in each truck,duly tied in their legs and horns, like thegunny bags full of grains heaped overeach other to be transported at cheaperrates. Thus these traders openly pooh-pooh over acts like “The Act of Crueltyto Animals” (passed by the Britishers in1860), and that their activities are pun-ishable by law. Today we have the Actof 1959 duly amended up to 1991 as“The M.P. Agricultural Cattle Preserva-tion Act” which has been passed by var-ious legislatures of this country. Yet our

police refuse to know about these acts. Ifthe police are forced and requested by thepeople working as Honorable AnimalWelfare Officers, working under the Ani-mal Welfare Board of Madras, duly es-tablished by the Central Govt. of India,they prepare challenges under the CrueltyAct where the maximum fine for suchcruelties is only Rs. 50/- . The butcherclass deposit Rs. 5/- in the court and theycarry away the animals for slaughter inmost of the cases.

The writer of these lines is an eyewitness to all such situations for the last15 years, since when, there is an agitationand continuous Satya-Griha, at the doorof the Abattoir in Deonar in Bombay.This Satya Griha was started by VinobaBhawe after his failure to convince Mrs.Gandhi, the then minister of India,whorefused to accept his suggestion thatwhen you have been winning election inIndia due to “Bullock Pair” and “Cowand Calf” emblems you should at leastsee that these animals are not slaughteredin India. She said she could not put her18 core voters at risk. She would changeto Panja as her party’s emblem ratherthan put her vote bank in risk. Since thenVinoba Bhawe advised his disciples todeclare continuous Satya Griha, which isrunning for over 15 years and seems thatit will run for another 15 years at least toconvince the Parliament of this country ofthis noble cause.

Now I request Justice Abmadi to saywhether he knew the above situation ornot? He can’t say NO because he hasgiven a judgement in 1996, based on theprevious judgement of 1958, and it is de-clared in Civil Appeal No. 9250 on May10, 1996 that bulls and bullocks are outof the total ban on the slaughter of cowsand their progeny. Hence they can beslaughtered after complying with provi-sions of Sub-Section 4 of the M.P. Kr-ishik Pashu Parirakshan Adhiniyam, 1959of M.P.

The judges, comprising the bench ofthe Supreme Court, usually refused to ac-cept the authenticated and scientific ma-terial advocating the preservation of bullsand bullocks for better economy of thenation. The bench has observed that incases of disputes, the writ court shouldnot decide the matter. But this is againstthe settled position of law that the Apex

THE ISCOWP NEWS

dangerous, in fact cows can be danger-ous. Bulls, oxen, and cows pull cartsand plows. (I know one cow that lovedto work but it was very offensive towork her). But the Vedic standard isthat we castrate the bulls and use themto work with. That is what Krsna doesand that is what we should do.

Last Kartik in Vrndavana I tooktwo bulls from the goshalla, one haddone some field work at the goshallaand the other, which was only twoyears old, was untrained. Our first day

we drove themaround the roadsfor an hour. Theyhad never been outof the goshalla be-fore and they weresurprised to seehorses, buffaloes,pigs, dogs, cars,buses, tempos, etc.Everything fright-ened them. Need-less to say we hitevery tree on theroad and caused afew near heart at-tacks. The next daywe drove them toMathura and withina few days we weredriving nicely. Thebulls soon got overtheir fear of traffic.After 10 days youcould drive themcomfortably

through any busy market place.Just for interest, if you castrate the

bulls young they will have long legs,and if you castrate them after a yearthey will be shorter and more stocky insize.

Your servant,Parsurama das

PS One problem with bulls is that whenthey reach middle age they tend to fightwith each other. Two years ago mybulls caused a big fight in Mathura.They crashed into bicks (rickshaws),taxis and people while charging eachother. In Javit (Radharani's village) onebull attacked the other while we wereharnessing them to the cart. The result

Court should not interfere when the HighCourt has passed very reasoned order. Infact the High Court of M.P. has upheld thelaw, preserving the bulls and bullocks, andthis court has arrived at a definite conclu-sion on the very reliable modern scientificliterature and other materials.

When Justice Ahmedi talks on the pos-sibility of a common code for all Indians,then he must recollect that in India bullsand bullocks are more worshipped morethan cows as there can be no cow without abull. And there can’t be a temple of GodShiva without aNandi, whom GodShiva preferred as hisanimal of choice forriding and movement.When Hindus go toworship Lord Shivathey worship Nandi(bull). Bulls and bul-locks are so very im-portant for agricul-tural practices in In-dia, without whomcultivation is impossi-ble in this country.Hence Justice Ab-madi should havegone deeper in thestudy of Indian soci-ology and agricultureto justify his positionas Chief Justice ofSupreme Court of In-dia rather than takeshelter of the previousjudgement of 1958,which will ultimately be squashed under In-dian circumstances because in that judge-ment their lordships had somehow tried tofind a temporary solution to the problem ofslaughter of cows and bullocks in India andthat is weak and disappointing attempt atsolving to the greatest problem of the In-dian nation.

The problem of ban on the slaughter ofcows and bullocks has attained such dimen-sions that the day is not far off when the to-tal population of India, having faith in kind-ness towards all living beings, will join andstand together to get this ban duly approvedby the Honorable Supreme Court of Indiawithout caring for any type of contemptproceedings in this matter.

With kind regards,

B.R. ThakurM.A. (Eng. & Hindi)LL.B. AdvocateHon. Animal WelfareOfficer,(Animal WelfareBoard, Madras)

Working BullsThank you for the latest issue of the

ISCOWP NEWS. You are doing a greatjob.

I was interested in your articles on

working bulls. So I thought I should givemy two cents worth. By Vedic standardsthe bull should not be worked. he iscalled a "Mahadev." His duty is procreat-ing. It's actually offensive to work him,although I have to admit out of necessityI work bulls daily for six weeks everyyear. Most of the bulls at the VrindavanGoshalla are friendly. I would trust themas much as oxen, in fact about all of thebulls could be trusted. At BhaktivedantaManor's goshalla we have 8 oxen, 4 arecompletely trustworthy, two are quitedodgy and two will attack without reasonand at any given chance. Still all theseoxen are regularly used and are hardworking. The point I am trying to make isthat oxen can be dangerous, bulls can be

Bulls Pandit and Mohan pull the Padayatra Cart in Vraja every year and we dis-

tribute prasadam (sanctified foodstuffs). This year I had to change the bulls and

train new ones. Every night we have a festival and encourage the local people to

use oxen. (Parsurama das)

THE ISCOWP NEWS

was the attacked bull fell on top of me,even walked on me with his metal shoesas he tried to get on his feet. They wouldnever attack any of us but they would at-tack each other even though they hadworked with each other for years. Ofcourse you could use only a single bullon the cart. They are noisy, very smelly,always digging the earth up with theirhorns, but also hardworking.

Training OxenFrom: iscowp <[email protected]>To: Matthew Howard<[email protected]>;[email protected]: Re: proper trainingDate: Thursday, January 22, 1998 11:34AM>Dear Balabhadra,

> I wanted to let you know thatKripa seems to be ok. Sadacara said thatwhite flour would help clot the blood. Italked to the vet and he said in the past hehad success tying the broken horn to theother horn to help stop the bleeding bythe pressure. He said it also depends on ifenough of the horn is left for the string togrip to. I wanted to know what you thinkof this technique.

My other question is, have you oranybody else ever talked about employ-ing a standard which only allows devo-tees with proper training to work theoxen. I know the short time I have beenhere I have heard devotees in the past,with no training trying to work with theoxen. A couple of devotees have saidhere that they can work the oxen withouttraining. >

Madhusudana dasGita Nagari, PA

Dear Madhusudana,It is interesting that we have been

discussing on the cow conference the is-sue of agriculture and husbandry knowl-edge being lost in this age. Thereforeteaching or training in these categoriesbecomes a necessity. The following is aquote from Hare Krsna dasi on the cowconference. This is in reference to ex-cerpts from the book:Wes Jackson, *Altars of Unhewn Stone:Science and the Earth*. SanFrancisco, North Point Press, 1987.

ISBN: 0-86547-272-6 (cloth) or0-86547-297-4 (paperback).

> Does everybody see how revolution-ary it is to propose to teach ox-power agri-culture and cow protection? Does every-body see how this is absolutely crucial inour age, though it was not necessary tohave a program for formally training in thissubject in bygone days?>

> Does everybody see how revolution-ary and visionary Prabhupada was to spec-ify this type of training in his VarnasramaCollege?>

> Does everybody see the cataclysmic

loss we suffer if we ignore his instructionson this matter.>You don't have to be genius to be a team-ster, neither to be a mother. Althoughmotherhood is a natural occurrence, our so-ciety is so dysfunctional that there are nowso many books and courses on how to be asuccessful mother due to the fact that thereare so many dysfunctional children. Simi-larly, being a teamster does not involvecomplicated knowledge, but a knowledgethat is a friend to the natural way of lifewhich unfortunately has become lost in this

age.Paramananda always told me that a

team is only as good as the teamster.Would you drive a car without the propertraining? Maybe on the farm a personcould get away with it but put that sameperson on a busy interstate or in down-town Manhattan and you are asking forTROUBLE.

Parmananda always liked devoteesto work with the cows before workingwith the oxen so they could understandhow a cow thinks. He thought that if aperson couldn't understand the thoughtprocess of a cow it was going to be verydifficult for them to work with oxen.When working with oxen you becometheir mind and you must be able to directthem so that the work at hand can be ac-complished safely.

When Taraka was there and I wascoming there once a month we talkedabout putting into place a program to cer-tify teamsters . The first discussion that Ihave with a new teamster trainee is aboutSAFETY. THE SAFETY OF THEOXEN AND THEIR SAFETY ANDALSO ALL SURROUNDING PEOPLETHAT THEY MIGHT COME INTOCONTACT WITH.

Training is important and in itselfsets the standard of care and proper useof the animals so they are not SPOILED.In this case the word SPOILED does notmean that the oxen are BRATS but thatthey have been RUINED BY IM-PROPER USE. At this point in time NOONE there is certified to use the oxen. Ifthe farm is serious about their future Istrongly suggest that a certification train-ing program be put into place.

As we mentioned to you before thereis a farm council in Harikesa Swami'szone where they seem to have severalsuccessful farms. They also feel stronglyabout training. Bhaktavatsala, a memberof the farm council, wrote us:"Your paper is a good and necessary firststep in insuring the safety of cows withinISKCON's care (Minimum Cow Stan-dards), but we see as a long term solutionthe necessity for devotees to be trained inthe field by experienced farmers withinthe movement. They could visit farmssuch as Almviks Gard in Sweden and

continued on page 12

Jalangi and her pet ox (pure brahman)

Ananta Sesa. They live at New Talavan

Farm, Mississippi where Jalangi and her 2

1/2 year old ox have appeared in parades.

This spring Ananta Sesa will start plowing.

THE ISCOWP NEWS

Growing Rice and Wheat

at New Talavan

hank you for the last issue of theISCOWP News. It addressed thepoints of cow protection. A lot offorethought before beginning a

herd and how will we feed them, howmany acres do they need? How will wepay for the hay, etc. People sometimesdon’t understand that just because theground has a green “hue” to it the cowshave plenty to eat. They can’t even gettheir faces and teeth that close if the grassis only 1/4 - 1/2 inches tall. So anywayI’m glad you are there to advise the upand coming and the rest of us hangers-onabout the rights and wrongs of cow pro-tection.

We have a few self-sufficient folkshere by New Talavan. Together our fami-lies take care of 10 cows includingBhakta Roy’s milk cow and Jalangi’soxen. We are fortunate to have Roy sharesome land for a community grain depart-ment. Varaha, my husband, Dwija Hari,and Bhakta Roy planted wheat and ricelast year (half of the rice seed came fromrice planted by ISCOWP in North Car-olina). They purchased a 1945 pull typecombine to thresh the rice and wheat. Itdid not thresh the rice successfully; it un-fortunately cracked the rice in half. How-ever, the wheat threshing was successful.The machine cost $350. It also hasscreens for beans.

About 5 pounds of rice was plantedin the spring and harvested September9th and 10th. The rice was planted in 20rows, each 70 feet long, 3 feet apart. Theplants grew to about 3 - 4 feet high. This

Top - Varaha, Dwiya

Hari, and Bhakta Roy

planted wheat and rice

(from ISCOWP rice

seed).

Middle-They pur-

chased a 1945 pull

type combine to thresh

Bottom- Rice grown

from ISCOWP rice

seed in North Carolina.

planting yielded 100 pounds of rice andnow they have enough seed to plantabout one acre.

The rice was cut with a sickle, tied inbunches, and then dried on bamboopoles. The weather was warm and sunnyso the rice dried nicely. They separatedthe rice from the stalks by laying a tarpdown beneath two wooden horses, layingboards across the horses, and then beat-ing the rice on the boards. The rice sepa-rated from the stalks and fell to the tarp.

They had no insect problems butbirds did attack the rice. Apparently inthe countries where rice is grown, birdsare the biggest predators. To scare thebirds away scarecrows and balloons tiedto poles were employed to some success.

At this point they have not been ableto find a machine to separate the ricefrom its jacket. Research is being done inlocating such a machine and when it is

purchased then more rice will be planted.However the planting of wheat has beensuccessful with the involved familiesmaking their own breads, chapatis, andmuffins. The wheat is harvested with thecombine, put through a shaker machine,and then cleaned up a bit of its stems andsuch before being put through the mill.The mill can be operated by hand or mo-tor. Then it can be strained of the branflakes if a lighter flour is needed.

We all have gardens, fruit trees, andbarns for our cows. The families all tradeeach other produce that the others don’thave. The New Talavan deities get thebest we have first.

The community farmers are Shas-tra’s family; Dwija Hari and family; Jaya

Patni Gopi, Neal Duncan and Jalangi;Varaha, Nrsimha, and Kishori; andBhakta Roy and Juanita.

Your servant,Nrsimgha devi

THE ISCOWP NEWS

ISCOWP: AN ETHICAL INVESTMENT

INCOME = $60,364.43 EXPENSE = $57,513.85 BALANCE = $2,850.00

Farm Operation

44%

Membership

Development

19%

Administration

9%

Straw Bale Const.

28%

EXPENSE

19%

Straw Bale Reimbursement7%

Feed Reimbursement

39%

Contributors

CD Withdrawal

31%

Misc.

4%

INCOME

THE ISCOWP NEWS

Evaluation of Fiscal Year 97Evaluation of Fiscal Year 97Evaluation of Fiscal Year 97Evaluation of Fiscal Year 97

INCOMEINCOMEINCOMEINCOME

CONTRIBUTIONS....................$23,841.60FEED REIMBURSEMENT...............$ 4,000.00STRAW BALE REIMBURSEMENT.........$11,770.55MISC. & REIMBURSEMENTS...........$ 2,132.56CD PRINCIPAL WITHDRAWAL..........$18,619.64TOTAL............................$60,364.43

The CD withdrawal contained funds from the sale ofISCOWP’s North Carolina barn sale ($7000), and the balancefrom donations obtained from the Building Vrajapura Farm cam-paign. All funds were obtained in 1996 and used in 1997 to ful-fill 1996 campaign promises. As you know, a comprehensivewater system for the cows has been installed at Vrajapura Farmenabling us to provide housing for 21 cows and oxen from NewVrndavana's herd which has helped to relieve the New Vrnda-vana cow program. Fencing has begun with all necessary materi-als purchased for future fencing, and the barn has been undergo-ing refurbishing.

A bank loan was refused to build our Straw Bale home dueto its unique construction. As you know, there is no livable hous-ing at Vrajapura Farm, and it is absolutely necessary for us toconstruct a home as soon as possible so we can live at VrajapuraFarm. Baladeva, our son, is in charge of the construction and hasreimbursed ISCOWP $11,770.55 to date. Refer to Straw BaleConstruction expenses for details.

Since we are mostly caring for New Vrndavana’s cows andoxen, we were reimbursed for feed and also partially for servicesrendered to the cows (MISC.).

EXPENSESEXPENSESEXPENSESEXPENSES

Farm OperationFarm OperationFarm OperationFarm Operation

ANIMAL...........................$ 7,195.89AUTOMOBILE MAINT/GAS.............$ 5,306.15BARN CONSTRUCTION................$ 1,849.69ROAD CONSTRUCTION................$ 1,147.17EQUIPMENT........................$ 410.12FIREWOOD MAINTENANCE.............$ 113.05GARDEN...........................$ 424.01WATER DEVELOPMENT................$ 7,379.78FENCING..........................$ 1,014.13UTILITIES........................$ 557.52TOTAL............................$25,397.51

We are presently protecting 24 cows and oxen at VrajapuraFarm. Animal expenses reflect feed and vet expenses. A com-plete water system has been installed enabling us to house ani-mals all year. Also, we have been working on refurbhishing thebarn by enclosing the barn on 3 sides to give protection in thewinter. We are presently beginning a floor system in the haystorage area. For the first time in 15 years there is now traffic atVrajapura Farm and we have been working on the road to pro-vide safety and efficiency by hauling in gravel and digging cul-

verts. New fencing to protect food growing areas. All fencingthat we install is of high tensil wire, not barb wire.

Straw Bale ConstructionStraw Bale ConstructionStraw Bale ConstructionStraw Bale Construction

WATER DEVELOPMENT................$ 2,000.00REBAR PURCHASE...................$ 408.00MATERIALS & LABOR................$13,681.29TOTAL SPENT......................$16,089.29REIMBURSED TO ISCOWP.............$11,770.00TOTAL............................$ 4,319.29

By winter of 1997 we were “dried in” (building enclosedand protected from the elements). Now, we have all the plumb-ing, wiring, insulation, and part of the dry wall installed and therest should be done in the summer so we can move in. Baladevais paying for the construction as it proceeds from his truck driv-ing salary in addition to providing the building labor(Balabhadra is assisting).

Membership DevelopmentMembership DevelopmentMembership DevelopmentMembership Development

AUTOMOBILE MAINT/GAS/TRAVEL......$ 1,334.41GUEST HOSTING....................$ 250.10PRINTING.........................$ 1,366.43OFFICE/TAX PREP/BANK CHARGES.....$ 2,719.16COMPUTER MAINT...................$ 1,097.91PHONE(FAX,INTERNET)..............$ 2,049.43POSTAGE (COOKIES,PHOTOS,GIFTS,NL)$ 2,031.04TOTAL............................$10,848.48

The quarterly ISCOWP News has been published since1990. The other means of communication that have developedare e-mail and fax. Besides our cow conference (which has ex-perienced much increased activity this year) on the ISKCONCOM internet bulletin board we now have a WEB page. OurWEB page address is: http://www.ovnet.com/~iscowp. We canbe reached at iscowp @ovnet.com or [email protected] many of our members cannot be reached by e-mail butby fax and phone.

We are now employing an accountant to prepareISCOWP’s tax report and to clarify all past reports. This yearwe had computer difficulties which we were able to correct withno loss of data and now the computer is working more effi-ciently than ever. Our members who send in monthly donationsreceive picture letters and cookies monthly. Also all donationsreceive a gift and recognition.

AdministrationAdministrationAdministrationAdministration

AUTOMOBILE MAINT/GAS..............$1,204.75WAGES.............................$2,960.01UTILITIES.........................$1,013.99TOTAL COST........................$5,178.75REIMBURSED TO ISCOWP..............$1,004.00TOTAL.............................$4,174.75

The administration costs reflect what it costs to maintainour family and staff while operating ISCOWP. This income wassupplemented by payment for work outside ISCOWP activities.

THE ISCOWP NEWS

PATRONS ($6,000.00 - $2,500.00)

ISKCON of West Virginia..............$5,490.00

Vanamali Pandit d (The Mody Family)..$4,000.00

Vrajabhadhu dd (Marie Pritekel)......$2,610.34

Shastra d (Scott From)...............$2,500.00

ASSOCIATES ($999.00 - $500.00)

Ram Paliwal MD.in honor of father Dhannalal

Paliwal..............................$ 831.00

Kamalesh & Arti Shah.................$ 782.00

Labangalatika dd (Mrs. Malik)........$ 631.18

Stephen Sorra........................$ 620.00

Dharma Vidya d & Nama Priya dd. (Grant Family)

.....................................$ 500.00

Tulasi d.(John West).................$ 500.00

GUARANTORS ($499.00 - $200.00)

Amala Bhakta d.......................$ 485.00

Doug Carlton.........................$ 410.00

David Thiessen.......................$ 375.00

Saraswati dd (Betty Woodhouse).......$ 350.00

Kanina d & Arjuna d (Quinn Family)...$ 300.00

Pavamana d & Sampada dd (McCloud Family)

.....................................$ 300.00

Parampadam d (Kenn Perry)............$ 260.00

Giriraj d (Ramos Family).............$ 214.00

SUPPORTERS ($199.00 - $99.00)

Madhukanta d & Ann (Searight Family)

.....................................$ 198.00

Pusti dd (Connie Humphrey)...........$ 195.00

Jim & Theresa Devine.................$ 167.00

Janesa d (George Willmon)............$ 142.00

Mary Goerke......................... $ 133.00

Srimate Radharani....................$ 125.00

Haridas d & Nandapatni dd.(The Stempel Family)

.....................................$ 121.00

Krsna Culture........................$ 119.92

Jack Baldwin & Kunti DePoo..........$ 115.00

Dulal & Sabita Bhattacharjee........$ 110.00

Adideva d & Siladitya dd (Larsen Family)

....................................$ 108.00

Barbara Withee......................$ 108.00

Bhadranga d & Hladini Sakti dd.(Sherman Fam-

ily)................................$ 108.00

B.H. Arthur & L. McCaskey...........$ 108.00

Brij Lata Agawal....................$ 108.00

Dan Duer............................$ 108.00

Daruka d (David Corcoran)...........$ 108.00

Edna Galicia & William Vidal........$ 108.00

Haribolananda d & & Garudi dd, Archary d,

Rasalila dd, Harikirtan d, Rajavidya d

(The Hargreaves Family).............$ 108.00

A. Gopal Krishna.(Advocate BABl)....$ 108.00

James Oswald........................$ 108.00

Linda Campisano.....................$ 108.00

Mayesvara d & Urvasi dd (Roberts Family)

....................................$ 108.00

Ramanbhai B. Patel..................$ 108.00

Rangavati dd & Jitari d (Heintz Family)

....................................$ 108.00

R.K. Dhingra M.D....................$ 108.00

Rory Alden..........................$ 108.00

Suresh & Ujavala (Matchless Gifts)..$ 108.00

Suresvara d & Katayani dd (Hall Family)

....................................$ 108.00

Vidyananda d & Kirtida Kanyaka dd (Halvorson

Family).............................$ 108.00

Vinod & Pramila Vig.................$ 108.00

BTG Service Center..................$ 106.00

Isabelle Haas.......................$ 105.00

ISKCON of Port Royal................$ 100.00

Lorraine Dove.......................$ 100.00

Suryaram R. Joshi...................$ 100.00

H.H. Chandravali Swami..............$ 99.00

Thank you for Contributing During the Fiscal Year 1996

(3/96 - 2/97)

THE ISCOWP NEWS

CONTRIBUTORS ($99.00 - $50.00)

Ram & Aruna Singhania...............$ 79.00

Bharati & Nikhil Joshi..............$ 75.00

Amrita dd & Rasamanjari dd (Anne Kellogg &

Marilyn Stein).......................$ 70.00

Chris & Paula Baymiller..............$ 55.00

Dr. Prem Sahai.......................$ 51.00

Anthony & Rawtee Lutchman............$ 50.00

Baladeva d & Madhurya lila dd........$ 50.00

Bernard Folse........................$ 50.00

Drumilla d...........................$ 50.00

DONORS ($49.00 - $30.00)

Akilananda d.(Al Fitch)..............$ 48.00

Helen Wells..........................$ 46.00

Augusto M. Vargas....................$ 42.00

Soleil & Jacqueline Develle..........$ 42.00

Cecilia & Janmodasya d (Glass-McCafferty)

.....................................$ 40.00

Dhanistha dd (D. Yarber).............$ 40.00

Sadananda d.(Stephen Knueppel).......$ 40.00

Bernard Faustino.....................$ 37.00

Gayle Janzen.........................$ 31.00

Balai dd (Blanche Marsden)...........$ 30.00

SUBSCRIBERS ($29.00 - $16.00)

Advaita Chandra d & Radha Sundari dd (Taylor

Family)..............................$ 27.00

Govinda Kund d (Gilbert Frances).....$ 25.00

Jacklyn Johnson......................$ 25.00

Indra Pramada d (Elliott Cohen)......$ 25.00

Mukunda d & Bhakti-Lata dd (Gauthier Family)

.....................................$ 25.00

Robin Parmley........................$ 25.00

Sudevi (Lynn & Ron Hansen)...........$ 25.00

Andrew Bach..........................$ 22.00

Aroon & Lily Chaddha.................$ 21.00

Avadhuta d (Audrius Palubinskas).....$ 21.00

Badrynarayan d & Rukmini dd.(Weinberg Family)

.....................................$ 21.00

Bupendra Gupta......................$ 21.00

Caroline Constantine................$ 21.00

Dr. B.G. Gokhale....................$ 21.00

Dr. Prem, Veena & Neha Gupta........$ 21.00

Dr. Thirumalal RadhaKrishnan........$ 21.00

Erik & Karin Hazelhoff..............$ 21.00

Jona M. O’Nan.......................$ 21.00

Kaivalya d & Monorama dd (Mahajan.Family)

....................................$ 21.00

Naveen Krsna d & Rasagmya dd (Khurana family)

....................................$ 21.00

Philip James........................$ 21.00

Rupanuga d.(Robinson Family)........$ 21.00

Sendhabhai Patel....................$ 21.00

Winthrop Dahl.......................$ 21.00

Yadunandana dd (Judith Syer)........$ 21.00

Gail Toby...........................$ 20.00

Gautama Kachhia.....................$ 20.00

Maha Mantra d (David Fuller)........$ 20.00

Varaha d & Kishori dd (Simonson Family)

....................................$ 20.00

FRIENDS ($15.00 - $8.00)

H.H. Gunagrahi Swami................$ 15.00

Lenny Greenberg.....................$ 15.00

Namath Nayak........................$ 15.00

Rene Waisvisz.......................$ 15.00

Puspha H. Govind in memory of late husband

Hasmukhal Govind....................$ 11.00

Vijay & Shaila Shroff...............$ 11.00

Shobha & Narendra Shah..............$ 11.00

Vrndabaneshvari dd (Lois & Marc Birenbaum)

....................................$ 11.00

Arvind & Nidhi Sharma...............$ 10.25

Albert Winkelman....................$ 10.00

Ishwar Mahbubani....................$ 10.00

Harry Madison.......................$ 10.00

Mukunda Datta d & Krsnavesa dd.(Tandy Family)

....................................$ 10.00

Nirguna d & Vijaya dd...............$ 10.00

Christine St. Onge..................$ 8.00

Our new campaign began in December 97 and

ends in December 98. Gour Govinda & Sita

pledged $3000 and Anuttama & Rukmini pledged

$1500. All together $20,000 has been pledged

to this date. Please read more on page 10.

THE ISCOWP NEWS

I was born in a small village (about100 families) in Gujarat, India in 1942.The village was located near the city ofSurat. At that time there was no buses, sowhen we wanted to go to the train stationwe would take the bullock cart. It tookabout 3 hours to get to the train stationfrom our village and the round trip took thewhole day. When I went to Baroda, also inGujarat, to go to high school and college Iwould have to take the bullock cart fromthere to a small place outside Surat, thenthe train, and then another bullock cart tomy grandmother's (my home village). Myfather would call my grandmother that Iwas coming and there would be an ox cartwaiting for me. We were dependent on theoxen for our transportation.

The whole village had one bull. Actu-ally, 2 or 3 villages shared this one bull.So, whenever the villagers needed to im-pregnate a cow they would pay the familywho owned the bull for the bull’s services.The doctor who cared for the villagers alsocastrated the bulls into oxen. He was anAyurvedic doctor maintained by the vil-lage. He also performed all the religiousceremonies and taught in the one roomschool house. He was the Brahmana. Hewas not paid in cash but given what heneeded.

Grains, wheat, rye, lentils, and vegeta-bles were grown in fields plowed by theoxen. Each family had about 4 oxen, a cou-ple of oxen for the cart, a couple for farm-ing, usually one cow and sometimes twocows, and about 3 water buffaloes. Eachfamily had about 25-50 acres with 8-10acres for pasture. The animals were fedfrom this land, their grain was not boughtoutside. Srila Prabhupada has said that oneshould have one acre to provide for onecow. In my village that was the ratio ofcow to land. With this acreage we wereself-sufficient for our own foodstuffs aswell as the animals under our care. Aftertalking to Balabhadra I have learned that ina colder climate, in terrain where the landis not flat, it takes more land to support onecow.

I was born into a family of the Vaisyaclass. We owned 50 acres and the plowingof the fields was done by the lower class.

Instead of salary, they would get supplies,all meals, and shelter. They were part ofthe family; whatever they needed mygrandmother would make sure they weresupplied.

As a young boy I knew how to drivethe ox cart and train the oxen. Driving thebullock cart was a pleasure and a treat formyself and the other boys in the family.We would compete to be the one to drive.It was a lot of fun for us. We would alsoride the oxen. One of the other activitieswe liked to do with the oxen was to grazethem, taking them here and there untilthey were satisfied.

When we were growing up there wasno money exchange within the village ,there was exchange of commodities likegrains, vegetables. We traded at a smallcountry store where you would tradethese commodities for what you needed.We would trade for spices, sugar andwhen we needed something special wewould have to go to the city where wewould have to use cash.

One of the nicest memories of mychildhood was when my grandmothermilked the cows early in the morning. Weboys would wait and watch her milk untilshe was done. Then she would call all theboys to come partake of the fresh milk.Every morning we would have this milk.I also remember churning the milk andwe would have makhana (butter). As youknow, Krsna is known as Makhana-chora(butter thief). Sometimes with the milkwe would have makhana in a leaf cup.We would all sit down in a row and eatmakhana. It was a real treat! Yogurt andbuttermilk was also made from the milkwhich we had fairly regularly. The milkwe had everyday, yogurt and buttermilkoften but not every day, and the makhanawas special, we only partook of it occa-sionally. There was plenty of milk prod-ucts for everyone. My grandmother had 4children and they had 4 children eachwhich made about 16 people to feed ev-ery day. There was never any scarcity ofmilk, grains, and vegetables.

Of my grandmother's 4 children,there were 2 boys and 2 girls. The landwas given to the boys. One uncle is still

alive. For some years now, since mygrandmother died, no family member haslived there. They lived in the city andlaborers worked the land. Since I was theson of my grandmother's daughter I didnot inherit any land.

Within our ISKCON community Iwould like to see a community villageconsciousness like that which could befound within the village I grew up. Iwould like to see one family be sufficientin obtaining their own grains, milk, andvegetables and they have extra surplusthat they can exchange for things likeclothing. And then like minded peoplewill want to live nearby, so there can beexchange and they could help each other.Several one family units, self-sufficientunto themselves exchanging their sur-plus.

Life is very pleasant like this. Whena daughter marries and goes away thewhole village feels like it is their daugh-ter going away. When a child misbehavesanyone in the village would correct thechild considering the child like their ownchild. When I was a young boy, Iwouldn't even consider misbehaving be-cause everyone would know about it andit would bring embarrassment to my fam-ily. Everyone would find out veryquickly. Religious holidays like Diwaliwere also very enjoyable in this atmo-sphere. The cooking would be shared bymany women from different families toform one big feast.

Now we have chaos. In America somehistorians claim that the invention of thetractor destroyed the family farm. With-out the tractor small acreages could bemaintained. With machines the acreagepossible to be cultivated by one man in-creases and therefore men, animals andthe family unit are displaced as the basisof community. In India the tractor is alsoencroaching alongside consumerism.Someone works in the factory, gets somerupees and buys their foodstuffs. Thenthey need to have sense gratification be-cause they are being driven senseless inthe factory. If they were outside in thefields in the fresh air, experiencing thenatural creation of Krsna, there would beno need for sense gratification. With thesecurity of the community around themthe need of sense gratification also

Continued on page 15

Memories Of My Boyhood

in India by Vanamali Pandit das (Dr. Mody)

THE ISCOWP NEWS

ISCOWP

UPDATE

New Campaign: Ox-Power Herb Com-

pany

Establishing the Ox-Power HerbCompany to support ISCOWP’s ox-power training and cow protection workis a major step to forming a future forISCOWP which is not totally dependenton your donations. Herbal products,grown on land prepared by oxen (valueadded feature), can provide an income forthe continuation of ISCOWP’s cow pro-tection activities. During these troubledtimes, people are looking for alternativesto expensive health care as well as alter-natives to expensive, chemical bodyproducts. At this time herbs and herbalproducts are of great demand. Now that

we have our ownland to developsolely for the pur-pose of supportingISCOWP activities,the goal is to developit in a way that willprovide LONGTERM support thatis a showcase of self-sufficient activitiesbased on the landand oxen .

STEPS TOACHIEVING GOAL1)Selecting herbsand herbal products(such as soaps, teas,salves) to grow andproduce.2) Making connec-tions with marketssuch as Krsna Cul-

ture, Blue Boy Herbs.3) Building our own market through ourmailing list.4) Building processing and storage build-ing for preparing herbal products.5) Prepare land for 2 acre garden forplanting herbs.6) Install fencing for 2 acre garden.

So far, approximately $20, 000 hasbeen pledged. We have not yet gotten intouch with most of our members, but youwill be hearing from us soon!

We have additional plans for the barnto make it more efficient. This winter werealized the practical situation in keeping21 cows at the barn. We need to lay somecement in certain areas to minimize themud. Balabhadra wants to finish the siding,roof, doors and partial wooden floor forfeeding. This will secure the building forcold winters.

New Team Living at Vrajapura Farm

There has been 2 additional oxenadded to Vrjapura's herd. Jaya & Nanda, ateam that Balabhadra had trained duringthe Sponsor a Teamster Campaign. Nandahas a pinched nerve in his leg. He is undermedication now and we hope for a full re-

covery; but it is not guaranteed that he willwork again. Both of them are affectionateand show their appreciation for their com-fortable living situation by licking and hug-ging when we approach them.

Strawbale Home Construction

In between truck runs Baladeva hascompleted all the electrical wiring, theinsulation of our basement home, and halfof the sheet rock. Next we need to paint,and install the rest of the bathroom andkitchen. Then we can move in. In short,progress on the house is going on scheduleand we should be able to move in thisspring or summer.

Ministry for Cow Protection and

Agriculture

Some of you might have heard thatthere is now an ISKCON Ministry ofCow Protection and Agriculture and thatBalabhadra (president of ISCOWP) wasaccepted by the GBC as the Minister. Asyou know we have been acting as the de-facto ministry due to the fact that we re-ceive requests from around the worldfrom devotees who want to care for thecows, bulls, and the land. So, we willcontinue to do whatwe have always doneand hopefully therewill be more supportcoming from in-creased sources thatwill enable us to in-crease this service byproviding travelingexpenses to foreignfarms and increasededucational literature.At present the cowconference has hadincreased activity incommunicating cowcare problems andtheir solutions atISKCON farms. Wewill keep you in-formed how all thisdevelops, as it devel-ops.

Damage, Repair, and Plans for the

Barn

We thank all of you for contributingto fixing the roof on the barn. It is 95%fixed. All the tin and materials have beenpurchased from donations that came infor the roof's repair. Balabhadra also putsiding on half of the side facing the silo.Now the barn is mostly enclosed on 3sides. Before it was open on 4 sides ex-cept for some rusty tin nailed on parts of1 side. Thank you again for the help inkeeping the cows healthy and happy. Wewere able to fix the roof timely; today wehave had our first real snowfall for thewinter.

Nanda , of the team Jaya & Nanda, is enjoying his new and confortable home.

THE ISCOWP NEWS

LETTERS

Trainingcontinued from page 4

learn first hand through an apprenticeshipthe basic principals, practices and valuesof cow-oriented Krsna conscious agricul-ture. Such a course should be at the veryminimum 1 year long, so that all sea-sonal situations are covered."

After you called about Kripa's horn Ihad called back to talk to you about thebleeding. I got Sadachar on the phoneand told him about a powder that is avail-able to stop the bleeding but that I didn'tthink the farm had any. He said that hewould run into town to get some but thatround trip would take about an hour. Itold him to use white flour and that to runinto town wasn't necessary. I also toldhim that next to the horn is an artery andthat if the bleeding was really bad thatyou might have to wrap a thread aroundthe base of the horn and artery to stemthe flow of blood. Its painful becauseyou are already dealing with an animal ina traumatized situation and will usuallytake 2 or 3 people to hold the animalshead so you can wrap the thread tightlybut not overly tight.

How is the sled ? Did you finishbuilding it yet? If so have you intro-duced the sled to Bhima and gotten anyfirewood ? Keep in touch!

Your servant,Balabhadra das

From: iscowp <[email protected]>To: COM: Radha Krsna (das) ACBSP(GB)<[email protected]>;[email protected] <[email protected]>Subject: Re: "In order to assure the goodfortune of the cowsDate: Wednesday, January 21, 1998 8:01AM

> I have just discovered your com of31st Oct 97. I have a question regardingitem no.10:( Excessive use of whips,beating, rough treatment, and violence tothe oxen are not acceptable). I have wit-nessed in a 'training run' the excessivebeating of a young two year old animalwhile yoked in its first cart. The cart fellover and the animal was very stressed.It's partner in the yoke was more experi-

enced and not so disturbed. Onlookerswere also worried. I know that the headof the Goshalla says he does not believein training before 2 yrs old. In Hungaryfor example they yoke up the smallcalves in pairs to the back of transportcarts for training purposes on a dailybasis and they don't have these scenesof apparent cruelty. I believe this is theway to train animals up nicely, espe-cially bulls, which as you say we areeventually supposed to do. What doyou think. Should there be guidelineson this?

Radha Krsna das.Great Britain

Dear Radha Krsna Prabhu1/21/98

It was nice to hear from you regard-ing the minimum cow standard list ofproposals. Regarding the use of whips,excessive force and age of training. Iam a firm believer in training the bullcalves when they are young. There area number of advantages to this. I like tostart around 2 to 3 months of age. Atthis age the weight factor of animal andtrainer is still pretty much equal. Mostof the European breeds that we are fa-miliar with here grow dramatically intheir first 2 years. My Brown Swissteam weighed 1000 lbs. at 1 year and1700 lbs. at 2 years. Needless to say alot of animal to handle. Also the men-tality at 2 years has changed into that ofa rebellious adolescent teenager.

When the animals are young theylearn very quickly and really no force isneeded except in rare cases and thisshould be done with love and not anger.The "old timers" say that you shouldtrain an ox to pull, not beat him to pull.By training young, your bull calves willbe fully trained to voice commands,walking in the yoke, and doing obstaclecourses with a small log-drag or carteven before it is time for them to be"pinched" and turned into oxen. Whentrained young they can do light workfor short periods of time and gain actualworking experience without hinderingtheir growth .

Also the skeletal structure is stillgrowing and forming so one must becareful to make sure their work is light.By the time they are 2 years of age and

ready to join the work force on a full timebasis they are "EXPERIENCED" and"DISCIPLINED". The real rub comeswhen a young team is put into the workforce and it hinders their growth andhealth, which in turn shortens their work-ing life as they get older. Training 2year olds who have had limited handlingwill require an experienced trainer who ispatient and calm himself . If the trainerhas problems with controlling his temperand senses and is not patient you will findanimals that are abused.

In training the animals noise plays animportant factor. After the animals are inthe yoke and start to pull different thingsaround they will always be alarmed tosome degree at first by the noise behindthem which they cannot turn around tolook at because they are in the yoke. Be-fore I hook them up to any log, cart, sled,or implement during the training pro-cess, I let them sniff the object, walkaround it, etc., before hooking them up.After the initial movement of the object,noise is created and they will movequickly and maybe even start to almostrun. Stop them immediately and unhookthem from the object and let them sniff itagain, walk around it, etc., and then hookthem up again and move the object again.This may be necessary several times untilthey are comfortable with the noise be-hind them.

At all times they should be spoken toin soothing tones and with reassuringwords and touches to the body. Yourexample of the young calves being yokedbehind the transport carts was to learnhow to walk as a team in a yoke and alsoto become noise realized. Young train-ing, light work, gives you a trained teamat 2 years.

We will add some details to point 10in the Cow Minimum Standards to clar-ify. Thanks for your input. How is every-thing progressing in your AG. program?Keep in touch.

Balabhadra das

From: COM: Madhava Gosh ACBSP<[email protected]>To: COM: Cow (Protection and relatedissues) <[email protected]>Subject: ox training and beatings

23 years ago when I was trainingoxen I had only the ascending method to

THE ISCOWP NEWS

go by. The conclusion I came to is thatwhile a good beating may be a part of oxtraining, the quota for beating should beclose to one per lifetime of the ox. A lotof histrionics should accompany it - lots ofyelling , wild gesturing, etc. This confu-sion is probably as effective as the actualphysicalpain, and the pain needn't be severe orleave broken skin or bruises.

The underlying premise of ox trainingis to become their friend. Without that mu-tual trust, beatings are merely a secondbest technique. A sharp word to an oxenthat likes you and enjoys being with you isas painful to the ox as a beating.When I was training my young Jerseyoxen, Bala and Deva, there came a pointwhere they knew the commands and knewwhat was expected of them. To that point,I had kept a rope tied to the near oxen'shalter whenever we were out on the roadfrom Vrindaban to Bahulaban (in NewVrindaban), a 2 mile wooded walk. Iwould walk down with them in the morn-ing, do my daily service, then walk back upwith them in the evening. The first day Ididn't tie a rope to the halter and went tomake the walk, we were fine for about thefirst 1/2 mile or so. Then, just like mis-chievous boys, when they noticed that therope was missing they kind of edged awayfrom me. When I said whoa, they kind ofgave me this " What are you going to doabout it look,” and took off running. I saidwhoa again, but they were gone. I didn'tchase them, but did keep walking. Sureenough, when they got down to the stateroad where there was vehicular traffic, theyhad stopped, unsure of venturing out of thewoods without my protection.The novelty of running away having wornoff, they let me calmly walk up to them,reattach the rope to the halter and leadthem over to a tree and tie them up, all verycalmly. But once they were tied up, I wentballistic on them. I didn't beat them, be-cause I didn't want them to associate lettingme tie them up with getting a beating, be-cause that would have had long-term nega-tive effects, but I yelled and screamed andjumped and waved a stick and really toldthem off. I explained to them in detailwhat is was that they had done wrongand why I didn't like it. They may not haveverbal skills but are good at reading intentof those of us limited to verbal expression.

They knew I wasn't happy.I left them tied up to the tree all day

without food or water, and picked themup on my way back to Vrindaban in theevening. When I came back to them, Iwas calm, and asked them if they weresorry. They indicated they were, so Iunhooked them and walked them backup. They never again ran away from me.That was the one and only time.

Madhava GoshNew Vrndavana

Flies on CowsMineral oil is not good. (in the last

issue we suggested an oil base of herbs torid cows of flies). It is a petroleum prod-uct. Suggest to use instead olive oil, or alight vegetable oil - canola which ischeap also or corn oil as a base. Animalslick their skin too. Here we use coconutoil or sesame oil.

I had heard about Diatomaceousearth and even brought back 5kg to Indiafrom USA. But then wasn’t sure how touse it for internal parasites. Now I’m get-ting the clue, thank you.

Tobacco dust is best for ticks. 2quarts water and brew 1 pound tobaccodust - strain and rub on the animal’sbody. Tobacco dust is a waste productand should be cheap or no fee. It is non-poisonous.

Cider vinegar is very good. Here weget sugar cane vinegar. I depend on itmyself for terrible insect bites from thegrass (small very toxic ticks). It is theonly thing that prevents blood poisoningfrom the horrible itching. And it worksvery well on cows too against ticks andflies.

Labangalatika dasiRaigad, India

From: COM: Madhava Gosh ACBSP<[email protected]>To: COM: Cow (Protection and relatedissues) <[email protected]>Subject: Re: Flies on CowsDate: Monday, February 23, 1998 10:20PM

I would be a little concerned aboutthinking tobacco is nonpoisonous. Gener-ally it is considered poison, and you canbrew insecticide from it. Overexposurecould be a little dangerous. I treat it with

respect and feel that it should be consid-ered poisonous.

From: WWW: Rohita (Dasa) ACBSP(New Talavan MS - USA)<[email protected]>To: COM: Cow (Protection and relatedissues) <[email protected]>Subject: Flies on CowsDate: Monday, February 25, 1998 3:20PM

Comment

Yes all things must be taken or usedin moderation. Each substance has a levelat which it becomes detrimental to lifeforms. Tobacco has an agent within itthat is caustic when in contact with livingtissue. This is why it is used to kill lice,ticks ect. There are\many herbs of thistype, lobelia is another example. Thisagent (I don't remember it's name) whenisolated and concentrated its caustic na-ture becomes magnified in smallamounts. It is neutral in effect.

From: WWW: Rohita (Dasa) ACBSP(New Talavan MS - USA)<[email protected]>To: COM: Cow (Protection and relatedissues) <[email protected]>Subject: Flies on CowsDate: Monday, February 23, 1998 3:20PM

Prior to the tobacco dust it is best towash the animal with soap to which somesoda has been added. Frequently for per-sonal use from insect bites (we have fireants here) the itching sensation can begreatly minimized by the use of hot waterand soap shortly after exposure.

Another remedy, that is totallyherbal, and is used among the Arabhorsemen is garlic, eucalyptus, rue,woodsage and southernwood. This canbe used for any skin ailment, bite etc.Many of the herbs I just mentioned canalso be give to the animals internally indifferent mixtures.

Just remember however that if youare dealing with cows that their bodiesare naturally antiseptic provided you aregiving them access to natural grasses(fields that are not monocrop) and herbsin the fields. As soon as you restrict theanimals from these natural areas you willhave to use remedies that you have just

THE ISCOWP NEWS

heard mentioned. The best policy is tokeep the native grasses, forbs and shrubs asa natural pharmacae for the animals toshop in.

If you learn the proper managementtechniques, these remedies will not be nec-essary. A few years ago the governmentveterinarian for the southern counties inMississippi had a chance to see our herd of150 animals and was greatly impressed bythe ease of handling and the lack of exter-nal parasites. This credit goes to the accessthe animals have to natural leys (fields ofnative grasses and forbs).

From: Iskcon of New Talavan<[email protected]>To: [email protected]: Flies and related commentsDate: Saturday, February 21, 1998 1:11PM

As a very strong advocate of preven-tion by properly maintaining the land andthe cows and as an older devotee I feel mytime to start to preach more on this andrelated topics. The internet is very benefi-cial for me to do this as I am very much aloner and not use to speaking. Recently Iwas reading in the ISCOWP NEWS aboutflies and the use of Pennyroyal. Thissparked the following thoughts which maybe of use to some of the readers.

If you are having trouble with fliesthere are a number of things that maybedone before the use of any herbs and/orchemicals.

Make sure the animals keep their fulllength of tail. In 1996 while I was in India,one of our neighbors dogs (4 of them) useto chase the cows and bite at their tails. Itwas so bad that about ten of our animalsnow have short stubby tails. The sole solu-tion to this deviant behavior of untraineddogs was to remove them from being ableto access the cows. Those animals whereevery nervous after that and where muchbothered by flies due to the fact of a non-functioning tail.

When the weather is warm dailybathing and regular brushing to removeloose hair and dead skin of the animalshelps. In cooler weather brushing aloneusually is efficient. This is the daily proce-dure in India, daily the animals are washed,rubbed down after they have drank. Thisremoves all dead matter from the animalscoats the main reason for the presence of

the various breeds of flies.Biting insects however generally

come for the animals blood. Here in NewTalavan we have four kinds of horseflies, four kinds of mosquitoes, deer fly,carrion flies, house and stable flies. Alsovarious small insects like gnats, no-see-ums ect. Two kinds of horse fly are par-ticularly disturbing to the cows; largegrey and a flourent lime colored vari-eties. The lime colored bite very hardand have been known to cause much pan-icking just by the knowledge of theirpresence. Luckily they are not very nu-merous, except in the late summer espe-cially if it has been a wet spring and sum-mer.

When I first arrived in New Talavanin 1976 they had been having troublefrom the large gray horse flies and wesolved the problem by killing them everytime we saw them so it usually took acouple of years for their population torebound to a bothersome level. Thecowherd boys at that time became adeptat catching them in their hands or killingthem in mid-flight with the use of a greenChinaberry switch. Oh by the way, theChinaberry is actually our solution herein New Talavan. It is the lesser cousin ofthe Neem tree, and is called in commonterms by those possessing botanicalknowledge as the False Neem. It lookslike the Neem, the leaves are a more yel-lowish green and are not as deeplynotched. They grow very quickly here (3-4 feet per year is common) when the yearis wet they can grow as much as 6 feet.The cows will eat their leaves (sparingly)and are fond of running through areas inwhich branches hang down or wherethere is a dense stand of small trees. AllChinaberry trees that hang down into thecalf yard are neatly trimmed to the heightthe calves can reach, thus showing usthat the animal is its best physician.

It is our duty to find out how tobring the cow and its medicine together.The cow when feeling poorly will searchout a particular plant beneficial to it. Wejust have to keep natural lees from beingplowed under and seed to some high pro-ducing annual.

Those of our cows with Zebu bloodlines are less bothered by all manner offlies. This in part due to the fact that theyhave pores all over their body and sweat

from them. The Taurus breeds (of Euro-pean origin, i.e. Holsteins, Jerseys etc.....) sweat from their bodily orifices. TheZebu animals also sit out in the hot sun(+85) sunbathing, it should be noted thatthe flies like the cool shade as do theTaurus breeds. The cross between theZebu breeds and the different Taurusbreeds are not bothered either by the heator the flies.One last comment. The lime coloredhorse flies (this is my name for them, Ido not know their taxonomic name orhistory) also do not seem to be botheredby the heat and they are the ones thatmost bother the Zebu breeds. Hangingbunches of flowering elecamphane growin the areas most visited by the cows.They are sticky and the insects that comeand become stuck can be removed fromthe plant by emerging in water.

Do not discourage the presence ofCattle Egrets and other insectivorousbirds from associating with the cows.Cattle Egrets one sees in the African sa-fari type movies etc. particularly like toeat these large flies and can be seen inNew Talavan following along with theGrackles, Cowbirds and some other birdsbehind every cow and occasionally rid-ing on the animals backs. Prior to the late60's there where no Egrets in the Westernhemisphere. Then there were some verystrong storms in the southern Atlanticalong the West African coasts and strayegrets began to show up along the north-ern Brazilian coasts. With out any preda-tors in their new terrain they spreadrapidly south towards Argentina andnorth into the Caribbean. Then in theearly 70's they where also found in thePacific coasts of South America and asfar north as Washington State and intothe Carolinas on the Atlantic side. Inland they have not spread so far north.They appear in early March on their mi-gration northward in New Talavan. Thensuddenly they are gone after a fewweeks. Sometimes small groups will stayall summer. Generally we are devoid oftheir presence in June and July. Aboutthe middle of July they return on theirway to wintering in the tropics.

Make sure that the manure pattiesare picked up and put in compose pilesor dragged to speed up their incorpora-tion into the soil. Removal of small stag-

THE ISCOWP NEWS

nant bodies of water from the land andlarge masses of decaying matter helps inkeeping the insect population down.

When cows are kept clean and cool italso discourages insects. This cleaning,brushing and providing a shaded areabrings you into closer contact with the ani-mal. In doing so you will see other thingsthat need to be done and in the process ofdoing these things you will come to iden-tify the other personage you are associatingwith. That cows are spirit souls in differentbodies than you.This not only strengthensthe animals health it causes a strong bondto develop between you and your animal. Itwill become easier to handle, healthy fromyour association. This is the beginning ofseeing Krishna in everything.

MEDICAL TREATMENTSRubbing the animals down with slump

oil to which eucalyptus oil has been added.Avoid the eyes. Rubbing from the hoofs upto the hocks with strong wine vinegar;morning and evening.

OTHER COMMENTSNot all flies are bad. The Carrion Fly andother scavenging varieties are beneficial.they remove necrotic flesh from wounds. Ihad one ox, he was young and use to vigor-ously challenge the other animals for posi-tion one day one animal could take it nomore and they horned him in the rightlower shoulder area. The cut went all theway to the bone. I could put my finger inwith out touching the sides of the opening,it was about four inches in length. Aftermuch worry about flies and some researchI discovered the following.

WOUNDS'Wash the surface very clean with cold

water, slightly salted, then bathe with acleansing and healing brew possessing dis-infectant properties. ' The author goes on todescribe the different plants to use and theprocedure and method of preparation, thensays ' The wounds may also be pluggedfurther with some cobwebs (spider). ' HereI would like to mention that the spider andanimal abhorred by many is the producerof one of the purest fibers in creation. Thesilk that it makes its webs from is non-different from silk that may be worn on thealtar without washing it after daily use.

Then the author went on to say ' I very

rarely sew wounds, and many have beenlarge enough to insert ones hand intothem, I merely wash them with a strongbrew of rosemary plant, and then furthersprinkle with that herb, dried and pow-dered. I do not use bandages, but keepthe wound uncovered so that the animalitself may keep the injuries open (that iswhen the animal is able to reach the placewith its healing salvia and tongue). '

Also I have been told by a retired vetthat cows tongues and salvia is antisepticand propalatic and that he never used al-coholic swabs when treating cows wherethey could lick. Horses he told me if youdon't do it will get infection, but not thecow. I use to go with cuts and bites to thebarn and encourage the cows to lick thearea. This they liked to do to acquire saltfrom my body and as a means of affec-tion as they saw me as the leader of theirherd. I have had no trouble with cuts,they all heal within a few days by theabove activities.

So with the above knowledge Itreated the oxen by hosing him down afew times a day, which he greatly en-joyed as it was very hot out then. At firstI tried to cut off some of the dead flesh atthe wounds edge usually shooing awayflies till one day I saw a carrion fly thereand watched it. It came and ate all thenecrotic tissue, it ate up to the demarca-tion of the living and dead flesh andstopped there. The pink living flesh soondominated the area, neither the ox or Iever chased that fly species away. Istuffed in a little webbing in the big gapand fed the ox some handfuls of garlicgreens to keep his blood-stream healthyto avoid infection.

This I did daily for about threeweeks. After that I periodically checkedto see he was keeping it clean, he was.Six months later you could not tell wherethe wound had been. Hair had completedcovered over the spot. This same proce-dure was followed when one cow re-ceived a snake bite on her udder. It wasvery bad to the state that the whole bagturned red, then blue, purple and finallyblack. Six months later I peeled away thelast vestiges of the necrotic old bag to seea new, slightly smaller pink bag under-neath. A 'goat bag' as it had two teatsplaced like a goat one behind the other inthe center of the bag! The bulk of the

credit in that goes to the carrion fly. Heate so much of that necrotic bag. I helpedby cutting the center portions of largenecrotic areas, a little every day but theflies cleaned it so clean that no scar tissuedeveloped and this I think is the reasonfor the development of a nice bag under-neath. This bag was also functional as thecow proved two years later by producinga strong and rapidly growing bull calf. (Ihave always let the calves drink fromtheir mothers and the new one never wentlooking for something from another cow,he always found enough from hismother).

MEMORIES FROM MY BOY-

HOOD IN INDIAContinued from page 10

decreases because there is more pleasurein everyday life.

I know some persons may say that

this is quite idealistic. The western cul-ture we live in is structured so opposite tothis ideal of village life. I would say inanswer to that; "Have you not seen ex-traordinary evils in society? Is there aplace you can walk freely? What do youwant to do about it? Put a police stationat every corner? This is not possible noris it the solution. Are you not alreadytired of watching the television and thesame things over and over again? Don'tyou want to do something that is satisfy-ing to the soul?"

Personally, I tried everything and Idid not find a bit of happiness in what Idid. Growing up in the village I found alot of security. Although we were notwealthy we did not feel we were missinganything. There was plenty to eat andenough to wear. After coming to AmericaI made several million dollars in mypractice and I found that I lost my happi-ness. Then I read Srila Prabhupada'sbooks and that's when I realized therewas still hope of happiness in this life-time. Now, I use the fruits of my work tohelp Srila Prabhupada's devotees estab-lish and maintain his vision of the Inter-national Society for Krsna Conscious-ness.

THE ISCOWP NEWSThe International Society for Cow ProtectionThe International Society for Cow Protection (ISCOWP) is primarily concerned with presenting alternatives to present agricul-

tural practices that support and depend upon the meat industry and industrialized, petroleum powered machinery.

Our Goals:1. To provide natural alternative energy by training bull calves as working teams of oxen.2. To utilize ISCOWP’s alternative agricultural practices as hands-on experience in living classroom settings.3. To demonstrate the usefulness of the natural by-products of the cow by encouraging the production of methane biogas fromcow manure as a valuable alternative energy source.4. To present the benefits of a lacto-vegetarian diet through educational literature, nutritional cooking classes, organic gardeninginstruction, and the production of cruelty-free dairy products from lifetime protected cows.5. To exhibit a sound ecological relationship between man, cow, and the land by establishing small family farms modeled afterthe historic Vedic example of agrarian harmony based on lifetime cow protection.6. To educate society about the practical benefits of lifetime cow protection by distribution of the quarterly ISCOWP NEWS, re-lated books, literature, and educational videos.7. To convince society of the living entity within the cow by direct contact with the oxen through our Cow Protection OutreachProgram.

ISCOWP was incorporated in March, 1990 as a non profit organization. William and Irene Dove (Balabhadra das & Chayadevi dasi)are its managing directors. They are disciples of His Divine Grace A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada, the Founder Acharya ofthe International Society for Krsna Consciousness. It is through their spiritual master’s teachings they have imbibed the practices andbenefits, both spiritual and material, of lifetime cow protection.

The tenets of cow protection and ox power are universal and nonsectarian, available to all regardless of race, creed, or nationality.All donations are tax deductible. ISCOWP’s tax# is 23-2604082. For more information: ISCOWP, RD 1, NBU #28, Moundsville,WV, 26041, USA, TEL: 304-843-1270, FAX: (call first) 304-845-5742, e-mail: [email protected], [email protected]

THE ISCOWP NEWS

The International Society for Cow Protection

Rd 1 NBU #28

Moundsville, W.V. 26041, U.S.A.

Tel # 304-843-1270

Non-ProfitU.S. PostagePAIDMoundsville, W.V.Permit No.15

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Train the Ox - ISCOWP

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