New Vrindaban

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"Who pays for the houses?"

"The incense business pays all the bills. It allows us to supply everyone with a dwelling—clothes, if need be—and with food. We also take care of medical expenses. If an individual wants extras, however—such as oil heat instead of wood, or a more elaborate house—he has to supply them himself."

"Is heating a problem?"

"No. We've converted a number of oil drums into wood stoves. They're inexpensive and work quite well. Some people who come here, though, choose to buy an oil heater, which may run up to $100. Then they have to buy the oil, which can cost $40 or $50 for the winter.

"Tell me about the cows. I know that—just like Krishna—you protect them. Isn't that expensive?"

"We do keep cows for religious reasons. The big commercial milk farms, you know, slaughter their stock when the animals are five to seven years old. Since a cow will normally live to an age of 19 or 20, that means that they're not even allowed to live out half their years. Here, on the other hand, our cattle are kept throughout their natural lives. We presently have about two dozen Jerseys, Holsteins and Guernseys. The Jerseys—and we primarily keep Jerseys—cost us $200 and $300 or $350 will buy a Holstein. We breed them artificially to the best bulls in the country for around $20 a throw."

"Do your pastures sustain all your cows?"

"In their present condition the combined farms yield enough pasture and timothy, orchard grass, alfalfa and bluegrass had for about 30 milk cows. We do buy some grain for the cattle but, as we increase our manpower, we'll be able to cultivate more corn than we now raise . . . and thereby reduce that feed bill."

"Do you have all the machinery you need for such farming?"

"We have two tractors, a bush-hog for clearing brush from pastures, a hay mower, hay bailer and a horse-drawn corn planter, mower and rake."

"So taking all this into consideration, how much does it cost you to keep one cow?"

"Excluding construction of a new barn and the upkeep of machinery, it costs about $600 to keep one cow for a year. The eleven cows we milk produce approximately 38,000 quarts— or 77,000 pounds—of milk annually. That's an average of 7,000 pounds each. The top price paid by commercial dairies to farmers for Grade A milk is $6.50 per hundred pounds, so a cow yielding 7,000 pounds a year earns only $450 if all her milk is sold. Obviously, keeping cows on a small scale is not a profitable business."

"So you would advise communes that're thinking about the purchase of a cow . . . "

"Don't do it unless you have plenty of land and you can afford the hay, grain and medicines. Read any of the good dairy books before even considering it . . . and make sure you have someone willing to stay at the farm full time who is committed to learning about the cow and taking care of her.

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