Use Bulls & Oxen.
Without training & using the bull cow protection is
incomplete.
Who Can We Give the Bull To?
Once inspired by their Guru’s instructions
about cow protection and simple living, the disciples wanted to get a cow. “But
to get milk we have to breed the cow,” they thought. They were wondering what
to do with the calf, especially if it’s a bull. “Could we give it to a farm,”
they asked their teacher?
The question is asked in all
innocence and with all good intentions. But it’s the wrong question, because
just as the purpose of sex should be to raise useful children, the purpose of
breeding a cow should be to raise a calf. It’s not that if the calf is
male he’s a useless burden to be gotten rid of. Producing a bull with
no plans to train and use him is not cow protection in the full sense.
The teacher warned against
neglecting to engage the bulls in useful service. He cautioned the devotees,
“The cow is wonderful and valuable in society. But you should also use the
bulls by engaging them in tilling the ground. People may call this the primitive
way, but it is very practical for engaging the bulls -- have them work in cart loading, transporting, and so on.”
Later in his instructions he was
even more emphatic, “You will see. It is sure to come. If you do not use the
bulls for ploughing, one day you will say, ‘Let us cut their throats.’
Why does cow protection imply working the oxen (neutered bulls, sometimes
called “bullocks”)? Because it is most ‘practical’,” he explained.
Appalled by
modern Western dairy practices, we might think that cow protection simply means
milking cows without slaughtering them. But this incomplete conception of cow
protection is not practical in the long run.
Simple Economics
For example, each time a good cow
has a calf, the cow might produce 15,000 pounds of milk (about 1830 gallons).
In the United States, at $2 a gallon, that would bring about $3,660. What does
it cost to raise the calf? In 1987 it was found that to maintain each animal
cost about $1 a day – for tractor-produced food, shelter maintenance, medical
expenses, and so on. So raising the calf for its expected life of twelve to
fifteen years would cost at least $4380. Balance that against the $3,660 worth
of milk, and you’ve got a net loss of at least $720.
This is why commercial dairies kill their bull calves. They’d go out of
business if they had to maintain non-productive animals.
Thus practical solution to this
problem is - work the oxen. A person might spend $200 a month on car payments,
but if that means he or she can earn $1000 a month, then it’s worthwhile. So
keeping an ox might cost $365 a year, but if he’s productive enough, the cost
is well worthwhile.
Equally important: if an ox
produces his own feed, his maintenance cost shrinks dramatically -- and we
begin to see what self-sufficiency is all about.
When Krsna advises
krsi-go-raksya, the terms krsi (agriculture) and go- raksya (cow protection)
are naturally interdependent. One result of cow protection is that we get oxen
to be trained for farming. And one result of Krsna conscious agriculture is
that we protect the working oxen because they produce food
for. Even vanijyam, or trade, in a localized, petroleum-free
economy uses the oxen -- to transport grain.
Of course, cow
protection in any form has some value, but unless we work the oxen, we can’t
get the full benefit. Cow protection that depends on charity can never become
the economic basis of society. Therefore, we emphasize the importance of
working the bulls. By doing so we can fully realize the benefits of cow
protection for sustaining society and engaging both humans and animals.
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