5 New Arrivals
The barn was definitely the place to be this morning. After the arrival of five new Jersey cows yesterday, the devotees were anxious to see their new neighbors. Bhakta Will, Jaya Sri Prabhuji, and Bhakta Emmanuel were in attendance along with us regulars, Jaya Prabhupada Prabhuji and myself. The new girls were hesitant to take grain but quickly warmed up. They are small and sweeter than ever. At eighteen months, these girls are about the same size of our two bull calves, Keshava and Madhava, who are celebrating five months today. The generous family donors will arrive this weekend to attend the name giving ceremony and fire yajna. All are invited to attend.
Our mothers, Tulasi and Ganga are doing well and still giving in total between eight to twelve gallons of milk every day. The milking times have changed to 6am and 6pm. No excuses now that the weather is beautiful, so visit your mothers and engage your cowherd friends in some cow katha! Soon to come: urine taste testing and cow patty making.
“Before the First World War [in England], when farm animals were not just subsidized herds and treated as so many numbered ‘food machines’, farmers named their beasts with some affection. In 1908, these were some of the names given to Old Gloucester cattle: Lovely, Blossom, Beauty, Droop, Broad and Charmer. Each says something about the animal’s character or what she looked like.”
—-Stafford Whiteaker,in
English Garden Embroidery