Gomata

The cowherd boys tell Nimai, “O brother. You are a gopala. Your form as a brahmana boy does not suit You. Come, I will carry You on my shoulders, and we will go herd the cows. We will head towards your mother’s place in Māyāpur.”
One gopa affectionately gives curds mixed with condensed milk, and another gopa becomes unsteady just by seeing the wonderful form of the Lord. Another gopa gives fruits and flowers. saying. “Come to my house every day.”
“You are worshiped by the brahmanas, but You are also the Lord of us gopas. We cannot give You up. You are the object of our knowledge and meditation. Look, even the cows give up their calves and grass and begin mooing on seeing You.
“Since it is late now, go home to Your father’s house, and tomorrow we will meet here again. I will keep yogurt, curds. and condensed milk for You, but if You are late. I will become upset.”
In this way Gaura and Nitai would daily play with the cowherd boys in the Godruma forest. Then, if not too late. Gauranga would bathe in the Ganges before proceeding home.
When will I see these pure love-filled pastimes of Gauranga in Godruma? Will such a day ever be mine? Aspiring to serve the Lord in the company of the gopas with their sentiments, I will reside in a cottage in Godruma with a fixed mind.
(Sri Navadvipa Bhava-taranga)

Of weapons I am the thunderbolt; among cows I am the surabhi. Of causes for procreation I am Kandarpa, the god of love, and of serpents I am Vāsuki.
(BG 10.28)

namo brahmaṇya-devāya
go-brāhmaṇa-hitāya ca
jagad-dhitāya kṛṣṇāya
govindāya namo namaḥ
(Viṣṇu Purāṇa 1.19.65)
Lord Kṛṣṇa, the Supreme Personality of Godhead, is the prime protector of brahminical culture and the cow. Without knowing and respecting these, one cannot realize the science of God, and without this knowledge, any welfare activities or humanitarian propaganda cannot be successful.
(SB 4.21.38, Purport)

cintāmaṇi-prakara-sadmasu kalpa-vṛkṣa-
lakṣāvṛteṣu surabhīr abhipālayantam
lakṣmī-sahasra-śata-sambhrama-sevyamānaṁ
govindam ādi-puruṣaṁ tam ahaṁ bhajāmi

I worship Govinda, the primeval Lord, the first progenitor who is tending the cows, yielding all desire, in abodes built with spiritual gems, surrounded by millions of purpose trees, always served with great reverence and affection by hundreds of thousands of lakṣmīs or gopīs.
(CC Adi 5.22)

The cows, oh, as soon as they see Kṛṣṇa, they become . . . they lick up His feet and body, and every cow has got a different name. As soon as He will call, the cow will come immediately, and dropping milk. And those cows are also spiritual. Surabhī. It is described in the Brahma-saṁhitā, surabhīr abhipālayantam (Bs 5.29).
Surabhī. Surabhī cow means nonexhaustive. You can milk as much milk you want and as many times. In the material world the cow is limited. There is time that you can milk, morning and evening, and so much quantity, not more than that. But surabhīr means you can milk those cows anytime you like, and you can draw milk as many as you like, as much as you like. This is called surabhī. urabhīr . . . in the description of Brahma-saṁhitā: cintāmaṇi-prakara-sadmasu kalpa-vṛkṣa-lakṣāvṛteṣu surabhīr abhipālayantam. Surabhīr abhipālayantam. So therefore He is Govinda. He gives . . . He is pleasure for everyone.
(661211 - Lecture CC Madhya 20.152-154 - New York)

Especially if we are human being, the cow is supplying us milk, the most important foodstuff. So instead of giving protection to the cow, if we kill, do you think that is very sensible thing? No. I am supplying something very nice, and if you kill me, is that very good gratitude?
So at least in human life, these senses should be there. Cow protection is recommended in the Vedic literature because it is giving the most valuable foodstuff, milk. Apart from other sentiments, it is supplying, and in exchange of nothing. She simply eats some grasses from the ground. That's all. You don't have to provide cows with foodstuff. The things which you refuse, you take the grains and you supply the skin.
You take the fruit pulp, you supply the skin. You take the, I mean to say, from paddy. You take the rice. You supply the straw, and she delivers you a very nice foodstuff. And I have discussed all these point in my Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, that human economic problem can be solved simply by having some land and some cows. That's all.
(680504 - Lecture SB 05.05.01-3 - Boston)

Govindam. And He is the protector, and pleasing to the cows.
You have seen many pictures of Kṛṣṇa, He is loving cow. Why cow is loved by Him? Why not another animal? There are many other animals. Why particularly cow? Because cow protection is the most important business of the human society.
In offering obeisances to Kṛṣṇa it is said, namo brahmaṇya-devāya go-brāhmaṇa-hitāya ca: "I offer my respectful obeisances unto the Supreme Person, who is the protector of the brahmins and the cows." Go-brāhmaṇa-hitāya ca jagad-dhitāya. The first qualification is that He protects the brahmins and the cows. Next, He protects the whole world. Jagad-dhitāya kṛṣṇa. And He is Kṛṣṇa, govindāya, this Govinda.
So the example is set by the Supreme Personality of Godhead that human civilization will advance only on the basis of brahminical culture and cow protection. As soon as there is falldown from brahminical culture, and as soon as there is discrepancy in the protection of cows, there will be no more peace in the world. Therefore He specifically said, go-brāhmaṇa-hitāya ca. This Kṛṣṇa consciousness movement is for the protection of brahminical culture and cows. Then automatically the peace of the world will come, if two things are done. This is Vedic literature.
(681204 - Lecture - Los Angeles)

Bull is the emblem of moral principle and the cow is the representative of the earth. When the bull and the cow are happy in joyful mood it is to be understood that the people of the world are also happy and are in joyful mood. The reason is that the bull helps production of grains in the agricultural field and the cow delivers milk the miracle of aggregate food values. The human society therefore maintains, these two important animals very carefully so that they can wander everywhere in cheerfulness.
(SB 1.16.18 purport)

The cow is the most important animal for developing the human body to perfection. The body can be maintained by any kind of foodstuff, but cow's milk is particularly essential for developing the finer tissues of the human brain so that one can understand the intricacies of transcendental knowledge. A civilized man is expected to live on foodstuffs comprising fruits, vegetables, grains, sugar and milk. The bull helps in the agricultural process of producing grain, etc., and thus in one sense the bull is the father of humankind, whereas the cow is the mother, for she supplies milk to human society. A civilized man is therefore expected to give all protection to the bulls and cows.
(SB 3.5.7 purport)

According to Vedic civilization, everyone has the responsibility for taking care of brāhmaṇas, old men, women, children and cows.
(SB 6.2.28 purport)

Cow protection is the business of the vaisyas and along with our preaching, this is the most important work. We must have a good section of Brahmanas in our society and we must also have a good group of vaisyas who can grow grains and tend cows, and thus supply the society with food-grains and milk products from the cow like ghee, curd, cream, etc.
(750526 – Letter to Hasyakari written from Honolulu)

According to smṛti regulation, the cow is the mother and the bull the father of the human being. The cow is the mother because just as one sucks the breast of one's mother, human society takes cow's milk. Similarly, the bull is the father of human society because the father earns for the children just as the bull tills the ground to produce food grains. Human society will kill its spirit of life by killing the father and the mother. It is mentioned herein that the beautiful cows and bulls were of various checkered colors—red, black, green, yellow, ash, etc. And because of their colors and healthy smiling features, the atmosphere was enlivening.
(SB 3.2.29 purport)

Putting on washed clothing, being always pure and being adorned with turmeric, sandalwood pulp and other auspicious items, before breakfast one should worship the cows, the brāhmaṇas, the goddess of fortune and the Supreme Personality of Godhead.
(SB 6.18.52)