Open Farm Day at Bhaktivedanta Manor

Cow Protection and Ox Working Farm

at Bhaktivedanta Manor in Hertfordshire

Hilfield Lane (off A41),

Aldenham, Herts (satnav postcode: WD25 8DT

12pm-4pm

Sunday 13 June 2010

Bhaktivedanta Manor operates the only cow protection project in the country.

Come along for the day and revisit an age gone by when oxen worked the land and cows were hand-milked. Join one of the tours of the of the farming community running throughout the day, and experience what it means to be self-sufficient in the industrial age. Includes light vegetarian refreshments.

For more details contact Sita Rama on 07723 354 527

OUTRAGEOUS

Battery farm for cows: 8,000 animals to be housed in milk factory

A factory farm housing more than 8,000 'battery cows' will be built in the English countryside. Under the controversial plans, Britain's largest ever dairy herd will be kept in industrial-scale sheds with little access to pasture or sunshine.

The cows will be milked around the clock to produce 430,000 pints each day - while their slurry will be recycled to generate power for the national grid.

The complex is the first 'supersize' cattle factory planned for Britain and follows growing concerns about the spread of 'zero-grazing' farming. Justin Kerswell, of animal rights group Viva, said: 'This is factory farming - and it blows out of the water the pastoral image the dairy industry likes to portray.' The £40million farm will be built near Nocton, Lincolnshire, later this year. It will have eight hangars for 8,100 cattle and two 24-hour milking parlours.
The animals, fed on fodder, will spend most of their days inside where they will stand and sleep on sand rather than pasture.

And they will be milked three times a day, while a typical dairy cow is milked just twice.
Waste will be removed each day and fed into an anaerobic generator to produce enough electricity for more than 2,000 homes. Robert Howard, a farmer behind the Nocton Dairies project, said the farm will be the largest in Western Europe and help the dairy industry compete against imports. 'Campaigners think cows should be like in the Anchor butter advert, with 50 to 100 cows dancing in a field,' he said. 'It is a lovely idea, but not the reality.' His colleague Peter Wiles said the cows would have access to open pasture when they were not producing milk. The sheds would have open sides, he added. 'We will have a visitor centre to show the public around,' he said. 'We are aiming to have exceptional standards.'

The company's website played down the industrial scale of the farm, saying: 'The layout is designed so the cows get plenty of exercise and fresh air. 'A vet will be on site 24 hours a day, seven days a week to support the trained dairy staff in their daily inspections of every single cow to check they are healthy and happy.' But animal campaigners are fighting the plans. Linda Wardale, of the group Vegan Lincs, said the conditions would be akin to ' battery farming for cows'. 'Cows should be in the fields, nibbling on grass, but here they're going to keep them in sheds,' she added.

And Patrick Holden, an organic dairy farmer and director of the Soil Association, said the farm was a wake-up call. 'Will consumers be happy to know that they are drinking the milk from one of 8,100 cows that will never get out to grass?' he asked. 'There is also a greater risk of disease - and the spread of new diseases, as we saw with BSE.'
In addition, the move away from family farming would make Britain more vulnerable to rises in energy prices and trade crises, he added. The Nocton Dairies' farmers hope to have planning permission by the end of next month and milk the first cow by September.

Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1254467/Battery-farm-cows-8-000-animals-housed-milk-factory.html#ixzz0hEs0rQNr

News from The Soil Association

The Soil Association recently announced that it's decided to end the culling of male dairy calves in organic farming.

The Soil Association is by far the largest organic certification body in the UK and has lead the way in raising agricultural standards in the sector. It's standards go beyond those stipulated by the government.

Although this is at a very early stage (it will be five years before they are implemented), it represents a major cultural change.

Generally, dairy cows are bred to produce as much milk as possible and so the male calves tend to be too scrawny to be suitable for being reared for their meat. This leaves no option than for the male calves to be culled.

The new measure will force farmers to rethink what they do with their male cows.

Traditionally, male cows were used to plough the fields, however, they became redundant in this function with the introduction of tractors.

Link to corresponding Soil Association press release: http://www.soilassociation.org/News/NewsItem/tabid/91/smid/463/ArticleID/256/reftab/57/t/Organic-sector-moves-to-end-culling-of-male-dairy-calves/Default.aspx
(Text PAMHO:18861328)

Melissa Kidd

Here is a series of video clips in which the Soil Association’s Information Officer, Melissa Kidd, explains various key concepts related to the organic food industry:

http://www.videojug.com/user/UKEX0040/

The Wave

Join ‘The Wave’ - the UK’s biggest ever demonstration in support of
action on climate change. London, 5 Dec 2009

On Saturday 5 December 2009, ahead of the crucial UN climate summit in Copenhagen, tens of thousands of people from all walks of life will march through the streets of London to demonstrate their support for a safe climate future for all.

Part of a global series of public actions, The Wave will call on world leaders to take urgent action to secure a fair international deal to stop global warming exceeding the danger threshold of 2 degrees C.

The Wave - which is not just a huge march but a whole day of exciting campaign activities - is organised by the Stop Climate Chaos Coalition, will show mass support by people from all backgrounds for a better, low carbon future for the UK and the world.

Join The Wave - the UK’s biggest ever demonstration in support of action on climate change.

More details can be found on www.stopclimatechaos.org/the-wave

Amil's Story

Episode 5: A day at Wenda's Farm

The sixth in a series of video blogs, depicting life on an Ahimsa (cruelty-free) farm

Cows and the Earth

A Story of Kinder Dairy Farming

By Ranchor Prime

Ranchor Prime and Chrissie Hynde (of the Pretenders) launched his new book at the Southbank Centre in London, where they were joined for a photocall by two of Bhaktivedanta Manor's oxen, Sukadeva and Sahadeva. The book has since received national media attention.

• Chrissie Hynde supports unique experiment to run a dairy farm
entirely without slaughter or fossil fuels
• New book, published in hardback on October 28, reveals the story
behind first cruelty-free farm based in UK and reveals why milk is
cheaper than water
• Preface by Chrissie Hynde and foreword by Patrick Holden, Director
of Soil Association

Cows and the Earth tells the provocative story of the first and only farm in the UK to run entirely without slaughter or fossil fuels, and the only farm to produce cruelty-free milk.

It’s a unique and real-life experiment to demonstrate what happens when dairy cows and their offspring are allowed to live productive lives instead of being sacrificed in the name of cheap milk.

It all started in 1973 when George Harrison donated a Hertfordshire manor house and twenty acres of land to a young community of Krishna people. The first thing they did was to buy a cow.

Thirty-six years later, Bhaktivedanta Manor, near Watford, is a carbon-free working farm, which houses 50 cows and oxen in low-tech English oak farm buildings. In these thirty-six years, no animal has ever been killed and Hindu principles of cow protection are neatly transplanted into the modern western world to run a dairy farm entirely without slaughter or fossil fuels.

The standard workings of a conventional dairy farm in the UK mean that cows are pumped full of hormones and kept continuously pregnant. They are usually slaughtered after four or five years, their calves are removed at birth and male calves are usually slaughtered at birth. In short, the lives of cows are cheap and disposable, which is why a pint of milk is cheaper than half a litre of bottled water. In fact, the average person in the UK spends just £1.80 a week on milk, nature’s most nutritious drink.

At Bhaktivedanta Manor, cows are protected by customary Hindu practices meaning no animal is slaughtered. Calves suckle from their mothers, cows are milked by hand and trained bulls plough the land. It is Britain’s first farm to run entirely without animal slaughter, cruelty and fossil fuels.

Thirty five thousand litres of cruelty-free milk are produced every year from this unique farm, which cares for cows and the earth and so embodies the sustainable and ethical principles necessary for long-term peace and prosperity.

Published alongside the Ahimsa campaign, which aims to set new humane standards for milk production and endorsed by the Soil Association and Compassion in World Farming, Cows and the Earth offers a convincing argument for why cow protection embodies the principles of sustainable and ethical living so necessary for the future peace and prosperity of our planet.

Ranchor Prime worked as a teacher, artist and community leader in yoga communities before becoming an environmental project manager for the World Wide Fund for Nature and advisor to the Alliance of Religions and Conservation. He has published ten books on Hindu spirituality and ecology.

A short 2 minute video outlines the key principles of the book can be found at http://www.fitzroviapress.co.uk

Cows and the Earth, by Ranchor Prime, with 32 pages of colour photos by Astrid Schulz, ISBN 978-0-9561846-0-3

Cows with names produce more milk

Daisybell, Buttercup, Maybelline or even Norma. Giving cows a name increases their milk yield.

This surprising insight into bovine motivational psychology by scientists at Newcastle Un

iversity has been rewarded with one of this year’s Ig Nobel prizes, an institution that rewards “research that makes you laugh and then makes you think”.

While the concept sounds somewhat farcical, the study was intended as a sincere investigation into cow welfare. “You’re laughing in the face of science!”

Catherine Douglas, who led the study, said. “The whole study was about how stress and fear can have a biological effect on milk yields.”

However, she conceded she was thrilled to be sharing the Ig Nobel award for veterinary medicine with her co-investigator, Peter Rowlinson.

The study involved 516 dairy farmers in the UK and revealed that the average amount of milk produced by a cow over its annual ten-month lactation period is 13,198 pints (7,500 litres). Cows with names had an average higher milk yield of 454 pints.

Nearly two thirds of farmers in the UK said they “knew all the cows in the herd” and 48 per cent agreed that positive human contact was more likely to produce cows with a good milking temperament.

Almost 10 per cent said that a fear of humans resulted in a poor milking temperament.

“The most important thing is for cows to be treated as individuals,” said Dennis Gibb, a dairy farmer who owns Eachwick Red House Farm near Newcastle upon Tyne with his brother Richard.

“We have got more than 300 cows, and they’re all named after flowers or trees.” However, he said there were limits to their originality when it came to naming, admitting that one cow was called “Holly the 15th”.

Cycle for Cruelty Free Milk

Millions of factory farmed cows in the UK are suffering to produce
conventional milk for our consumption. The Lotus Trust needs to raise
£150,000 to develop a model cruelty free milk dairy which can be
replicated around the country. With your help we can make cruelty free
milk a reality.

Join the Ahimsa campaigners to raise money by cycling for cruelty free milk, on any Sunday in October in London. There are different cycle routes for different levels and all we ask of you is to raise a minimum of £150 in sponsorship money to help make cruelty free milk a reality. It's that simple!

Please fill in your name, email, telephone and select the events you are
able to attend on the different dates. For more information, please visit
this link:

http://new.britishcycling.org.uk/skyride/local/events

To take part, click here:

Don't worry if you don't live in London - you can also arrange something similar for your area!

Cruelty-free milk: awareness leads to action!

Ahimsa recently exhibited at a summer festival in Hertfordshire as part of
its ongoing awareness-raising campaign on the benefits of a cruelty-free
lifestyle. The survey it conducted among festival-goers proves that where
people are given the facts about milk and meat production, they are more
likely to commit to a compassionate diet.

Research carried out at Bhaktivedanta Manor, the Krishna community farm in
Herfordshire which produces more then 37,000litres of cruelty free milk
annually for its community indicates that the real price of milk (when no
animals are slaughtered) is £3.

Out of 2,000 people surveyed at the festival:

- 31.6% were willing to pay £3 for 1 litre of cruelty free milk.
- 37.1% were willing to pay £2 for 1 litre of cruelty free milk.

This makes a total of 68.7% who are willing to pay £2 or more for 1 litre of
cruelty free milk.

In addition, 1,000 people who came through the Ahimsa exhibition area made a
commitment to take up a Compassionate Eating Programme whereby they will
now:

a) only drink organic milk
b) convert to a vegetarian friendly diet

And among those who pledged to change their personal dietary habits,
approximately 450 have committed themselves to take further action by
joining the Make Cruelty Free Milk A Reality campaign and participating in
various fund- and awareness-raising events.

If you haven't made a similar commitment already, there is no time better
than now! More to come soon on our plan for October.

Belgian farmers cry over spilt milk

How shocking, though one may empathise with farmers who receive a pittance for milk produced – they have been straight jacketed into an industrialised system leaving them no room to manoeuvre. The true value of milk and the cows that produce it has been totally lost, it costs less to buy a litre of milk then it does water. However, also as shocking is that 300 million litres of fresh milk is poured onto empty fields, this also appears to be senseless.

See: http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/in_pictures/8259659.stm

Rickshaw / Cycle Ride - THE VIDEO

Some footage from Sunday 26 July 2009. Supporters of the Ahimsa campaign for Cruelty-Free Milk set out on their bikes and rickshaws, through the streets of London... dressed as cows!

Organic Producers tough it out in uncertain times

Low premiums and high feed costs are forcing some organic milk producers back to conventional production. And according to The Dairy Group's Mike Palacio, several producers have already left or are considering leaving the organic sector.

With high feed prices and a reducing premium in relation to conventional milk prices, organic dairy businesses are in a difficult position. "The price has come down from 35p/litre in the past six months and for a herd producing 2m litres a year, that's an £80,000 hit", says Mr Palacio.

Two and a half years ago, the organic milk premium was about 10p/litre, when organic feed prices were nowhere near as high as they are now in relation to conventional feed costs. Currently organic feed costs between £360 and £425/t and the premium for organic milk is down to between 3p and 7p/litre.

Organic milk supply has in the past suffered from too many converters moving into the sector at a time of high premiums only to find by the time they have completed conversion, so many more have done the same that premiums are quickly eroded.

"We have no new dairy converters at present. Once the conventional milk price went back up to 25p/litre, the interest in organic conversion evaporated, "says Mr Palacio.

There were just 5m litres of milk in conversion in 2008, says the Soil Association's Phil Stocker. He suggests, with so few converters last year there will be opportunities for a limited number of conversions, so those producers may be ready to take advantage of an improvement in demand when the recession ends.

Dairy Cows 'hungry and emaciated' by high milk production, says CIWF

Compassion in World Farming says cows across Europe are suffering as a result of being bred to produce unreasonable amounts of milk.

The claims came after an extensive study on dairy systems by the European Food Safety Authority found that long-term genetic selection for higher milk yields was a major factor affecting cow health and welfare.

The five-part report said cattle should be genetically selected to address resistance to diseases such as lameness, as well as improving their fertility and health.

It also recommended that cattle were given enough space to take into account the increased body form and size of genetically-selected cows.

However CIWF claimed the report showed cows produced in the European Union suffered from hunger, lameness and infertility.

Calling for consumers to buy organic milk, CIWF said dairy cows were being bred to produce more milk than was healthy for them and were increasingly reared in zero-grazing systems, causing "serious welfare problems".

Phil Brooke, CIWF welfare development manager said the industry had been milking cows beyond endurance for too long.

Happy Healthy Cows Rickshaw / Cycle Ride

The Happy Healthy Cows campaign is planning a rickshaw / cycle ride through the streets of Central London on Sunday 26th July to raise awareness and funds for the welfare and wellbeing of cows. 5 rickshaws and 16 cyclists will veer through streets small and big - why don't you join us.

Details:
Gathering at Trafalgar Square for 10.30am / please contact mte@pamho.net for registration

If you cannot join, we would greatly appreciate support for this cause, please dig deep in your pockets and sponsor us at:

http://www.justgiving.com/Sita-Rama/

Diky's Story

Episode 5: A day at Wenda's Farm

The fifth in a series of video blogs, depicting life on an Ahimsa (cruelty-free) farm

Tell it as it is

If you were an alien visitor, by now you would surely be wondering if all creatures on earth took second place to money. And of course the answer would have to be yes. But the biggest shock is yet to come. Unlike many humans, the alien would know that an animal can only give milk when it has given birth to its offspring and it doesn't pour from an animal tap whenever needed. However, through our great scientific endevours, we have found a way to get what we want.

The genetic manipulation and dietary controls which have led to their extraordinary output of milk carry with them a cost, all borne by the cow. She has a one-in-three chance of her udders secreting pus and painfully swelling with mastitis, and the antibiotics forced up her udders don't have much success in controlling the disease.

Because of the strain of carrying her oversized udders, she is likely to be amongst the one third of cows who are lame from foot and leg disorders. And her body consumes so much energy for milk production that her muscles simply waste away. From a distance, these skin-covered coat racks, munching grass, seem to be in an idyll. But the ugly truth is that a quarter of dairy cows are so exhausted by the process they never see their third year, despite having a life expectancy of 21 years or more. Most cows are killed at four to seven years, often pregnant when they die.

Professor John Webster, Department of Animal Husbandry, Bristol University says:

"The dairy cow is a supreme example of an overworked mother. She is the hardest working of all our farm animals and it can be scientifically calculated. It is equivalent to a jogger who goes out for six to eight hours a day which is a lunatic pursuit”. He states that almost 100 per cent of cows suffer from laminitis - a disease which causes 'great pain to the cow' (MAFF). Tissue lining of the foot becomes inflamed and may lead to ulcers. Professor Webster continues: "To understand the pain of laminitis it helps to imagine crushing your finger nails in the door then standing on your fingertips." OUCH!!

Caring for the Cows

Episode 4: A day at Wenda's Farm

The fourth in a series of video blogs, depicting life on an Ahimsa (cruelty-free) farm

Taking animals in

Episode 3: A day at Wenda's Farm

The third in a series of video blogs, depicting life on an Ahimsa (cruelty-free) farm

Power to the people!

Consumer power has a long history, dating back at least to the boycott of sugar by people who sought to abolish the slave trade in the 1800s. But the idea of the 'consumer' really took shape in the 1900s, with the increasing acceptance of the idea that 'consumers' can affect change through the ways they spend their money. Now-a-days, buying something as simple as a banana involves a range of complicated choices - its no longer just a question of how much you want to spend or how many you want to buy, but whether you want ordinary, Fair trade or organic bananas. Consumers must must make decisions regarding genetically Modified (GM) food, food miles (how far the food has travelled), animal welfare, intensified farming, the chemicals used, antibiotic, hormone filled milk, etc. Shopping has become an emotionally charged avenue for expressing our ethical and moral views, not only about what we eat, but about the ways of the world in general. And you know what? The industries listen, they have to if they want to survive, and they will yield to the demand of the consumer.

Therefore, armed with our shopping basket, we must use the power that we have as a consumer– buy only those things which have been produced by ethically sound practises that do not cost the earth, but instead protect it, together with all the living beings that inhabit this still beautiful planet. In this way we can turn the tide or at least slow it down to acceptable levels.

People! We do have the power!