Save cows (endangered Kea cow breed)

We are protecting, for their whole natural lifetime, a herd of 7 cows belonging to the Kea breed, an indigenous species of cows with only few tens of members left alive. To create a sustainable agricultural project which will produce ahimsa milk products and organic fruits and vegetables, we need at least one hectare of fertile land, a cowshed, fences and house for accomodating the people who will take care of the cows and the land.

For more details, please go on reading:

There are a few indigenous cow breeds in Greece and some of them have very few members.

Our herd belongs to the Kea breed, which means, the breed of the island of Kea. We got this rare breed through Amalthia, an organization dedicated to the protection of indigenous animals of Greece. You can see little information about this breed at the website of Amalthia http://www.amalthia.org/en/activities/cattle. According to Amalthia, the Kea breed has about 50 members now all over Greece.

Now, our herd consists of seven members: one bull, one ox, two milking cows, one heifer and two female calves.

Why is it important to protect and maintain this particular breed?

The Kea breed is the only milk producing cow breed in Greece. This is because it is a crossbreed of Alpine breeds with the Greek shorthorn breed. The result is a medium size breed, which lives comfortably at the environment, vegetation, temperature and terrain of Greece. It is remarkable that even 2 years ago, there was a Kea breed cow on the island of Kithnos, about 35 years old, still bringing forth a calf every year!

The cows and especially the oxen of this herd, with proper training, can be helpful to the agricultural activities, like tilling the land, moving millstones, powering water pumps, moving carts etc. This stage we have not realized yet, but we strive to. We know that, in the past these cows have been used as draft animals.

From our experience, we have realized that their cow dung and urine have medicinal properties and are first class fertilizers. Cow dung can become an excellent fuel for the fireplace or the wood stove to heat up a house.

Finally, the nutritious milk they produce is excellent to drink as it is or prepare yogurt, cheese, butter etc. Whoever tasted their milk products appreciated their unique taste.

Therefore, we can easily understand that these cows are very important for every sustainable agricultural project. From another point of view, they also have the right to live and this is a good reason to protect them for their whole natural lifetime, independently of what we get from them.

We have seen that what they need most of all is some land to graze, a secure shelter to rest at night and love and affection from the humans. If they have these, they reciprocate in their own capacity.

Why do we ask for funds now?

Our farm is based at a rented place which does not have the facilities to become self-sufficient (not enough water, rocky terrain, half of the terrain covered by a structure with dark panels, just to mentioned three of them). With the help of some volunteers and our friends from Athens, for 4 years we tried hard to improve the fertility of the land, but it is very clear that a lot of input is still needed in terms of labour and capital.

Therefore, we thought it wise to move to another place.

A place that will be dedicated to:

- the lifetime protection of the cows,

- the natural cultivation of the land

- the simple living and high thinking of those people living there

- the cultivation and exchange of knowledge about natural farming

- living according to higher values. Higher values like, truthfulness, purity, austerity and mercy.

For this reason, we need our own property to realize our goals.

Because our goals are not only for our benefit but will be beneficial for all humanity, species and the environment, we dare to ask everyone to help us in this attempt.

Who is in charge of this project?

I am in charge of this project.

We are considering the possibility of creating an agricultural cooperative.

Which are the required funds?

We need grossly 40.000 Euros to get this project stand on its own feet.

In a gross calculation, we need

20.000 for buying the land, and

another 20.000 for cowshed, fences and housing, all in a very basic way.

We have a basic business plan, which will be refined and adjusted according to the land that we will find and buy.

Therefore, this basic plan is divide the available land in sections and allow the cows to graze in a rotation way from one section to another. As soon as the cows graze a section it will be used for cultivating crops of vegetables, fruits or grass for the cows. We will plant trees and bushes and we will create a food forest harvesting in five levels: inside the topsoil (potatoes, carrots), low on the ground, higher on the ground, small trees, and taller trees. We need at least one hectare of fertile land with water available for irrigation, ideally flat land at an area where we can cultivate all the year around.

Thank you for your interest,

If you are inspired, you can

- share this information with others

- donate according to your capacity

- invest to this project (contact me for details)

Best regards,

Mihalis Deligiannakis

[email protected]