Our visit to the Hare Krishna Cow Farm at Janda Baik was simply thrilling. Myself and my family consisting of my two sons (19 and 16 years of age), along with my wife visited this cow farm, yesterday, Saturday 9th March 2024. We had come upon it accidently on the map, when we were looking for places to visit on a day trip to Janda Baik.
The lady managing the farm is a Chinese lady named Prema Bhakti. Milk from the cows is not sold and only used to feed the calves. Only, the cow dung is processed and sold, with which they purchase additional grass for the cows.
One of the cows had just delivered her first baby calf, few hours prior to our visit. The mother cow was extremely protective of its baby and did not allow anyone close to it. As the calf had not yet fed with its milk, the mother cow kept licking the calf. Only when the calf could stand up on its feet, the mother would be able to feed its baby calf. The calf was shivering and the mother kept licking the calf. As it was on Mahasivarathri that the calf was born, she was named Sivaneswari. Other cows too had names such as Tulasi, Lakshmi. One was named Lava too. All the cows responded well to their given names and were extremely friendly. Both my sons fed the cows lumps of brown sugar with their own hands, the experience of which was simply thrilling for them. There were also 15 friendly stray dogs which were all looked after and fed by Ms Bhakti.
There seemed to be a total of 3 staff, including Ms Prema Bhakti, when we visited the cow farm. Ms Bhakti is passionate about what she does and looks after each of the cows like her own children. After viewing and feeding the cows below at the farm, Ms Bhakti took both of my sons atop the nearby hills, where the remaining cows had free place to graze and move around. I did not climb up the hill as it meant walking up the hill, which my poor knees might not support.
Ms Bhakti explained so many aspects to the farm, all the while we all listened to her various stories. She was friendly to both of my children and patiently answered all of the questions that both the teenagers posed to her. At the close, she gifted us a dried circular processed piece of cow dung, which we intend to keep. Her efforts need to be appreciated and commended. Kudos to her spirit, passion and selfless service to all of the cows!!
My personal thoughts:
#1: There is no proper signage to the place. Only the determined will find their way to the place. Ms Bhakti mentioned that they did not wish to commercialize the farm and asked me in wonder as to how we managed to find the farm, as there are no signboards on the main roads, no internet site to browse and no phone number to contact and be provided the necessary information. I had to confess that it was my younger son, who was very keen on visiting the farm and provided us all the necessary drive and motivation to find the place.
#2: The farm is quite run down and needs a bit of support. Funds seem to be scarce.
#3: The cows seemed to be perennially hungry too. Since the milk is not sold, the cow dung is sold and with this money, grass is purchased from nearby Ruang, probably once a week to feed the cows here. According to Ms Bhakti, there is a kind gentleman who provides the transportation necessary to go to the nearby place to purchase the grass and bring it back to the farm.
#4: There are no vet visits to attend to the cows and almost all of these aspects are looked after by Bhakti and her limited staff.
#5: Very curiously, there was also no electricity to the farm.
Ms Bhakti did not ask us for any donation and we were apprehensive about offering any cash. Not willing to embarrass our hosts, we drove away with mixed feelings about the farm, promising ourselves that we would write in a review on Trip Advisor, with the hope that this review would be able to bring some attention to the place, with the sole objective being the well being of the cows and their attendant staff. Hare Rama Hare Krishna!!