Sacred Cow vs. Bum Steer. Cost / Benefit of Cattle in India.

Sacred Cow

vs.

Bum Steer

Cost / Benefit

of

Cattle in India

Benefits Provided by Cattle in India

• Traction

• Dung

• Milk

• Beef

• Hides

• Offspring

Traction

60 million farms exist in India

2 traction animals are needed per farm (minimum)

120 million traction animals needed nationally

80 million traction animals actually exist in India

40 million shortage in traction animals* * * *

66% of farmers in India lack the minimum number of cattle needed to farm effectively

Dung

1. Principle source of fertilizer

--340 million tons used as manure

2. Main source of domestic cooking fuel

a. 300 million tons used as fuel

b. BTU equivalent of:

1.- 35 million tons of coal

2.- 68 million tons of wood

3. Adds fiber to adobe construction material

Milk

1. Average milk production = 413 lbs. per cow per year.

--52 gallons

2. U.S. average = 5,000 lbs. Per cow per year.

Beef

1. Untouchables eat meat --25% of the population

2. Vegetarianism is an ideal, not an actuality.

3. Many non-Hindus eat meat --Christians, Muslims, Sikhs.

4. Very little beef goes uneaten

5. Animal can be consumed after it dies naturally without

curtailing its usefulness.

Hides

1. India maintains one of the world’s largest leather industries

2. India is a major exporter of leather and leather products.

Offspring

1. Cows are factories for making other cows & bullocks

2. It is cheaper to reproduce a bullock than to buy a tractor

Different Perspective Due to Different Use

• In U.S., cattle are a Consumable Commodity

• In India, cattle are a Productive Resource.

* * * *

• A Consumable Commodity must be dead to be useful

• A Productive Resource must be alive to be useful

Cost of Cattle

1. Cattle do not compete with human for food.

• Only 20% of food comes from pastures

• 75% consists of rice straw

--humans cannot eat

2. Bullocks are fed more and better quality food than cows.

3. Males fed mostly prior to plowing.

4. Females fed primarily when pregnant.

  Gross Calories of Useful Energy Energetic = __________________________ Efficiency

Calories of Total Consumption

 * * * * * * * *

Singur = 16.9 %

U.S. = 4.5%

“How we bleed her to take the last drop of milk from her. How we starve her to emaciation. How we ill-treat the calves. How we deprive them of their portions of the milk. How cruelly we trea the oxen. How we castrate them; how we beat them. How we overload them.”

--Mahatma Gandhi