Vedic Ranch Hosts Zebu Herd
VEDIC RANCH HOSTS SMALL HERD OF ZEBU COWS
Mar 01, 2015 — SEDONA, ARIZONA, USA (SUN) — "Every house-holder can have a little land, a cow for milking, grow their own food - economic problem solved". Srila Prabhupada must have said this many times. He really believed that anyone could live, survive in this way, with Krishna consciousness of course. Without a spiritual life of Krishna consciousness, what's the use, of anything? The only way to satisfy the soul is to lead a life dedicated to God, our natural "healthy" constitutional position.
My wife saw an advertisement recently -"4 Zebu Indian cows and one bull for sale; Tombstone Arizona. Must buy all!" I couldn't believe it. Indian cows! We called the people and they were still available. A nice addition for the Vedic Ranch, I thought. We already have a small herd of Nigerian dwarf goats. We are raising for the health benefits of their milk - very alkaline and easy to digest. A quote from Srila Prabhupada states that goat milk is second best, after cow's milk.
A few godbrothers would say to me as we would advertise our programs, "Goats? Where are your cows, Vedic Ranch?" So I put the word out to everyone I knew, through our mailing list, close friends, etc., to help donate so that we could get these Indian cows for Lord Jagannath's service, which were miniature Zebu cows, like the ones you see in Jagannath Puri.
Within maybe five days, we collected the amount being asked for. So we hired a local cowboy to go down and pick them up with his horse trailer. The gentleman who sold us the Zebu herd, also volunteered to come up here at his own expense, a five hour drive, brought his own fencing material which he donated, and spent all day last Sunday, working in the rain, to put it up. Now we have have a nice temporary electric fenced in area to keep them, until we can get funds to have the metal panel kind of fencing around the area. The Vedic Ranch has plenty of land for a small herd, 11 acres.
Oh, I almost forgot. As soon as our new friend from Tombstone finished putting together the fencing for the cows, the rain which was going on all day, suddenly stopped, and a double rainbow shined very brightly in the sky, as if a smile of approval from the Lord. It was a wonderful day.
It all seemed to be Krishna's plan. Even one devotee family to whom I had asked if they could possibly donate something to help pay for a cow, went home, and during a game of scrabble that night, the name Z E B U came up on the game board! They said they took that as a sign from Krishna, and donated. To all the persons and devotees who gave, we couldn't have done it without their help.
Why I am telling this story, is that we are at present only two persons here at the Vedic Ranch, which is located just outside of Sedona and is an auxiliary project of the Sedona Center of Vedic Culture. If Srila Prabhupada said that it is possible to raise a cow or two for milk, and grow your own food, and spend the time remaining in the day for prosecuting one's spiritual life, to be happy and solve the basic needs of life, then why haven't more householder devotees tried it? Is there anything better tasting, than fresh organic cow's milk from a cow maintained and loved by a devotee of Krishna? Krishna is very pleased when we protect the cows, and these Zebus, would most likely have been sold for slaughter. Two of their cow-mates had already met with that fate.
There is something else about Indian Zebu cow's milk that I didn't know. Research shows that people with assumed lactose intolerance and allergies, are able to tolerate A2 milk from the Zebu cow. There is something about these types of cows, who still produce the same kind of protein in milk found thousands of years ago, as different from the present day genetically modified cow breeding and milk industry.
So in conclusion, there is so much wisdom in everything Srila Prabhupada has taught us. It only needs implementation. Protect the cows, protect the lands, chant hare Krishna and be happy!
The bull seen here is named Nandi. The cows are Parvati, Shakti, and there are two other small ones - Ahi and Mumu. See our website, www.lovethecows.com
