We love reporting back on completed projects made possible by your generosity.
In the spring of 2016, we asked for your support to help the nuns at Dolma Ling Nunnery with their request for a cow shed for their small herd of milk cows.
You responded and now we’re happy to share a video, photos, and news of the completed cow shed. On behalf of all the nuns at the nunnery and their happier (and drier) cows, we’d like to say a huge thank you to Alix, Anna, Bob, Cindy, and Stuart for making this dream a reality.
This video was made by the nuns.
The new cow house at Dolma Ling has been built adjacent to the existing cow sheds and provides shelter to 5 cows. This is very important because without shelter from the harsh sun and torrential monsoon rains the cows would suffer.
Dolma Ling Nunnery Cows
The nuns at Dolma Ling Nunnery and Institute have been keeping cows for the past 20 years. The nuns now have a herd of 14 cows, made up of 7 milking cows, five calves, and two older cows.
The cows are an important aspect of the nunnery’s income-generating efforts and provide the main kitchen with sufficient milk for the nuns’ daily needs. They also provide manure for the nunnery’s flourishing vegetable and flower gardens.
It is very important to the nuns that their cows are well cared for and happy. Cows that are healthy and housed in a comfortable environment also produce more milk and generally live healthier, longer lives. Photo courtesy of Brian Harris.
Two years ago the nuns built a new cow shed with inbuilt feeders and drainage for the cows. However, there wasn’t sufficient outdoor covered space for the cows to be tethered and fed when it was too hot or the monsoon rains were too heavy for the cows to be out grazing on the land.
The new cow house consists of a drained concrete platform with a concrete feeder, plus a simple corrugated iron roof so that the cows can get sufficient air and light without standing under the hot sun or in the rain.
Here’s a little excerpt from a video that the nuns made several years ago.
Thank you again for making this project possible and for improving the lives of the cows and also the 223 nuns living at Dolma Ling Nunnery.
We always list projects for the nuns that still need funding on our Current Projects page.
Congratulations from our household also, these must be the cleanest most contented cows in the whole of north India! how nice to see how the nuns are caring for their small herd.
Thanks for your lovely comment, Jennie!
This “cow shed” is far beyond my expectations! In youth, I worked on a dairy farm in central Vermont. Most of those cows were very sweet and gentle, but none were as well cared for as those at Dolma Ling appear to be. I am happy to have been of some slight assistance.