We are extremely grateful to the donors who have generously given to help the Dolma Ling nuns repair the floor of the cow barn. The project was fully funded at the end of 2017 and we will report back as soon as possible with news and photos of the repair.

Lying down shouldn’t be painful. But unfortunately, the cow barn floor at Dolma Ling Nunnery became damaged and broken after many years of use and was causing pain and injury to the nuns’ cows.

The Dolma Ling nuns have been keeping cows for the past 20 years. At present, the nuns have five milking cows, as well as five young females and two retired cows.

The cows are an important part of the nunnery’s income-generating efforts. The small herd provides milk for the nunnery kitchen which feeds over 250 nuns and staff each day, as well as some extra milk that can be sold for income for the nunnery. In addition, the manure from the cows is excellent for the nunnery’s flourishing vegetable and flower gardens.

The safety and hygienic accommodation of the cows is the greatest priority for the nuns. Thanks to our global family of supporters, the cows now have well-designed cow sheds with inbuilt feeders and good drainage, along with sufficient outdoor covered space so that the cows don’t get wet during the long rainy season or too hot in summer. (See our report on the completed cow shed project in 2016.)

However, maintenance is always an issue. In 2017, the floor area of the barn where the cows sleep at night became very uncomfortable for them. The cows are very heavy and, as they move around in their barn, the floor became broken and uneven. This created a huge problem for the cows, making it uncomfortable when they lay down to rest. They got scratches from the sharp broken areas of the floor. Moreover, the uneven surface was difficult to clean properly.

Therefore the nunnery requested help to Irepair the floor of the barn and provide a strong surface for the cows to rest and sleep on. The nuns wished to refurbish the floor with dressed, well-fitting stone that will be stronger and much more durable than either the river stones or concrete that were used over the past two decades. The new floor will also be easy to clean and safe so that the cows don’t slip.

You may download a PDF description of the Cow Barn Floor Project here.