The Goshala
The Manor’s Dairy Farm and Visitor Centre reintroduces a radical approach to farming in the modern world. It is called a Goshala because it shelters cows (‘go’ is sanskrit for cow). It also shelters oxen and one mature bull. The herd numbers around 50 animals, of whom 12 are milk-giving cows and 12 working oxen. the remainder are either juvenile or retired. Cows bear their first calf and start giving milk at 30 months; oxen start work at 24 months. In winter, when grass stops growing and fields become waterlogged, the herd shelters indoors, where they have plenty of space and access to the open air. In the summer they prefer to be outside day and night.
Find out more about the farm at: http://bhaktivedantamanor.co.uk/newgokul/
Carbon-free Farming
A unique feature of the farm is its reliance on ox power instead of tractors. This makes the Manor farm the only fully-functioning dairy in Britain not to use fossil fuels, which in modern farming cost our planet so dearly. Milk produced on a sustainable and humane farm is cruelty-free. although it costs more than modern industrially-produced milk it costs less to the cow and the earth. The economics of Cow Protection is looked at in detail in Cows and The Earth, available from the Manor bookshop.
The new farm buildings, opened in 2010, are made from locally-sourced green oak, larch panelling, local brick and a minimum of steel and concrete. Rainwater harvested from the roof is stored in a 20,000 litre tank used for all farm needs, and supplemented by a borehole. Hot water and underfloor heating are powered
by solar panels and an air source heat pump.
