ISCOWP Farm Moving

There has been a lot of internal self-examination in the last couple of months. We have hit the 25 year mark of ISCOWP’s existence and our 69th birthdays. We have been giving serious consideration as to how to go forward with our organization and ourselves.

In our hearts the desire is to educate. One can rescue many cows but there are always so many more being born into the meat and dairy industries. Education is the key to making a dent in that on-going horror.

ISCOWP has 168 acres in West Virginia, but due to the fact the land is mostly all rugged hills there is less than half of that which the cows can use. And even a good percentage of that amount is not easily accessible for the cows or by machine to keep it maintained. Especially the older cows are susceptible to tripping and falling trying to traverse the land.

Our operation here is labor intensive due to the terrain and winters. Help must be hired to maintain the farm. The winters have become more difficult for us as we age and do any outside winter work. Balabhadra had a hard time this winter due to his hands freezing up because of the nerve damage in his hands from when he had Guillain Barre Syndrome.

We have decided to move our operation to a warmer climate where the land is flat. We have found a piece of property that is 100% usable pasture with dispersed clusters of old, live oak trees which will provide shade for the cows. In this location the ratio is 1 acre to maintain a cow whereas in our present location it is 5 acres per cow. It is 57 acres in historic Rochelle, Florida. The Hawthorne trail borders the entry road and leads to several preserves. The land is surrounded by a timber plantation on two sides and the Perry Plantation is on the other side on which horses are boarded, trained and ridden on 500 acres. Here we can expand the number of cows we can protect, if we wanted to, whereas we are maxed out where we are now.

The main consideration is that it will be extremely less labor intensive to maintain the operation without decreasing the operation. This would free up Balabhadra more and we would not be spending as much money on labor. We will be able to spend less time gardening and preserving foods as most food can be grown all year round. Mowing the pastures is a straight run. No extreme cold. The cows can be on pasture all year round with some hay bought or grown for the short, not so cold winter. We would not have the expense of buying hay for the long winter that we have now, or the labor of pitching hay in the barns every winter day. In this location, ISCOWP can be more easily maintained and therefore the operation can be more easily passed on to successors when we can no longer physically do the service.

The largest devotee community in the country is within the vicinity filled with devotees of all ages. Gainesville University is also nearby filled with college students and another devotee temple that has been doing free vegetarian lunches there for more than 20 years. We understand there is also a large Hindu community in the area. The area  has various environmental, vegetarian and vegan groups.

The initial transition will not be easy. We would like to have all the cows, ourselves and equipment moved there by winter.

We are very hopeful for the future. We are dreaming of having more time to educate at the new location and to do more outreach. We pray for your blessings with this endeavor.

ISCOWP Website Redesigned and Launched

Our website iscowp.org has been redesigned and then launched in the last few days. Thank you so much Radhapriya dasi and Sukhayanti dasi for all your help in making this possible. Radhapriya designed this website to be more user friendly and easier for us to update and maintain. All the ISCOWP Newsletters beginning from 1990 to the present are now accessible online in PDF. All the e-newsletters are also accessible online on the website. Please take a look and let us know what you think.

Ethics and Cow Protection

Arnold A. Smith II, M.A.;D.D. from the Department of Philosophy and Religious Studies at
Youngstown State University brought two groups of students from his ethics class to visit ISCOWP and learn about cow protection. View this video to hear some of the discussion on cow protection that took place and view some pictures of their visits.

Early Spring Joy for Rescued Cow and Calves

It was a long, hard winter and the rescued cow Kalindi and her friends, the rescued calves, escaped onto the pastures before the grass had a chance to fully grow. View their joy in this video.

I pray you are all well. Thank you so much for your support for the cows.

Your servant and friend,
Chayadevi
(Irene M. Dove)
ISCOWP Co-Managing Director